The Baldwin County School District participated in the 2025 Malcolm Mitchell Reading Bowl district-wide this year and held its own local competition to see what school would log the most “touchdowns” during the event.
READBowl is a global reading competition founded by Malcolm Mitchell, a former University of Georgia and NFL football player who promotes reading. Pre-K through twelfth grade teams compete around the globe to read for the most minutes. In 2025, there were 808,674 participants that read a total of 528,338,768 minutes.
“We were charged in October by our superintendent (Dr. Noris Price) and curriculum instructor to participate in the reading bowl this year, which we have not done as a district before. Our Library Media Specialist Committee came up with a plan and created a spreadsheet so teachers could log their minutes,” said Pamela Longino, Baldwin High School media specialist and event coordinator. “One of the challenges we had was that you log minutes on their website, but we could not see what the different teachers were logging, so we had Media Specialist Hope Goodner at Oak Hill Middle School and Media Specialist Jennifer Williamson at Midway Hills Primary working together so we were consistent.”
Each student from kindergarten through twelfth grade had a reading log that was turned in weekly, and the minutes were logged from Jan. 13 through Feb. 9.
“We were also competing across the district to see who was the top winner. So, it was important to ensure it was fair for all schools,” said Longino.
“For example, high school students were reading thicker books since they can read longer. We studied their reading habits and how long they should be reading.
“So, we came up with a plan that if 75% of students are participating at each school, this is how many minutes they should be reading a week and they would get a ‘touchdown,’” explained Longino. “And that is how we determined who the district-wide winner was overall. The district had 99 touchdowns in total with 46 scored by Midway Hills Primary.”
Midway Hills Primary won the district wide 2025 Malcolm Mitchell Reading Award, earning their school the title of READBowl Champion. Williamson led her school to read over 1 million minutes and the school won $500 towards the purchase of books for the media center alongside their championship title.
“This is my first year in Baldwin County and first year working with elementary school students,” said Williamson. “At our school we did a library book bingo that motivated kids in the contest, offered incentives, and promoted the event over the announcements and through decorations. It’s easy to get young kids motivated to win with the right effort.”
Longino stated that there were awards at each school level as well. Awards depended on the school.
“Hats off for Jennifer, though. She really pushed the event and promoted it,” said Longino. “If you cheer on your team, they will do better.”
Williamson stated several teachers made the leaderboard on multiple weeks and a few made the national leaderboard for the “primary conference” and the READBowl as a whole.
“Many of those teachers have said, ‘We feel the culture around reading at MHP is changing this year. Kids are excited to read and are excited about books for the first time,’” said Williamson. “I think the ReadBowl worked well alongside other programs we offer to promote literacy and encourage our students to find joy in reading.”
Midway Hills Primary offers other programs such as buddy reading, book bingo and reading challenges, rewards for top library patrons, and educational opportunities for parents and guardians to promote literacy.
“All it takes is the right book to make a reader,” said Williamson.
Overall, Baldwin County School District earned the 65th spot on the global leaderboards, logging nearly 3.5 million minutes.