Summer Reading Challenge

Our popular Teachers Reading Challenge is back for the summer 2025/26 period.

This challenge is open to all teachers, librarians and school staff around the motu, and runs from 01 Dec 2025 until 13 February 2026. 

To participate, competitors join their school's team, log books, accumulate points for every page read. They’re in to win bookish prize packs and spot prizes thanks to generous publishers and our friends at Booksellers NZ.

Bonus prizes available for tagging @readnz on Instagram in content showing yourself participating in the challenge.

Do e-books and audiobooks count?

Yes - all reading counts! You will need to log equivalent pages for audiobooks: a hot tip is to google page length of you book and add that.

Do I have to read books that could be used as class texts?
No - but keep in mind you'll receive double points for each page read from a New Zealand book, which includes every book in the Reading Stories from Aotearoa New Zealand resource.

Do I have to be an English teacher?
No - we think it's important for all school staff to read! The more the merrier.

I added a book before the competition started, where did it go?
Only books read inside the challenge window of 01 Dec to 13 Feb are eligible, sorry! It was deleted and the points removed so that everyone starts at zero on the first day of the challenge.

There are 30 people in one school team and mine is just me, how do I have a chance of winning?
Thanks to the joint powers of mathematics and our website developers, we have a point system that takes into account the number of team members, and averages pages read according to team size. So everyone has a fair chance of winning, but the more you read, the better your chances.

Will the challenge help me set texts for next year?
We hope so! You can use the Reading Stories resource to read books recommended for class teaching by other English teachers around Aotearoa and log them in the challenge. The resource also contains a teacher-compiled teaching resource for each text that's free for your use. Participating in the Challenge will give you the opportunity to win a class set of your chosen book!

Speaking of prizes....what are they?
Firstly, glory. Never underestimate the value of glory. Not to mention bragging rights. In addition to those weighty accolades, we’re offering a Read NZ Te Pou Muramura local Writers in Schools visit (half day), class sets of texts and other books from generous publishers, and spot prizes including book vouchers from our pals at Booksellers Aotearoa.

What if I'm the only teacher from my school?
Be brave - go it alone and see how many pages you can rack up! But we'd strongly encourage you to enlist as many colleagues as possible to get a good shot at those prizes.

Sign-ups for the Teachers Reading Challenge are available now, and the competition begins on Monday December 01.

Our Summer Reading Challenges have previously worked to address the 'summer slide', helping motivate kids from all over Aotearoa New Zealand to read over the summer holidays.

Hundreds of tamariki aged five and up competed in an online competition where they chose a team based on their age, and logged their books to win great spot prizes.

We partnered with a number of great like-minded charities to deliver these challenges, including Kiwi Conservation Club, SPCA, and Duffy Books.