The One Book, One Community campaign held a three-day book fair from April 8–10 in Poipet town of Banteay Meanchey province where the winners of the competition were announced. OBOC
The One Community, One Book campaign held in Banteay Meanchey province announced three winners out of the more than 40 people who participated in the reading competition. They will serve as their provincial representatives competing for the national title.
The One Book, One Community campaign held a three-day book fair from April 8–10 in Poipet town of Banteay Meanchey province where the winners of the competition were announced.
Sok Lak, co-founder of the Intellectual Library and the One Book, One Community campaign, told The Post on April 11 that the three winners of the reading competition are Peng Samreth, a student from Kob High School, who won 600,000 riel; Yorn Raksmey of Samrong School, who won 300,000 riel; and Chean Chanthida of Samdech Euv High School came in third place and won 100,000 riel.
“43 candidates from all throughout the province competed. We chose 10 of the 28 persons who could read in the first round to participate on stage, and then we chose just three from those 10,” he stated.
He said that the reading competition will continue to select winners from the capital and 24 provinces so that they can represent their provinces in the upcoming national championship competition.
“The winning candidates will be role models in cultivating the habit of reading and sharing ideas, insights, knowledge and friendship for young readers in Cambodia, because the candidates from each province will meet in the finals of the national championship,” he said.
Chean Chanthida, the third place winner, told The Post that the habit of reading a lot of books gives her a wide range of knowledge and it helped her do well during the competition.
Chanthida emphasized the importance of reading books she finds useful and urged other young people to do the same in order to improve their knowledge and capacity for success.
“Regarding the contest, I initially doubted my victory. I submitted to the committee a summary of the incident that, in my judgment, did the story justice. Because I read the book and completely understood the plot, I was able to describe the story I had sent in person. I did so in a fluid manner using my own ideas, and I ended the story in five minutes,” she said.
Chanthida urged other people in the provinces to enter the reading contest as part of the campaign so they could demonstrate and improve their skills, particularly so they could represent their province and recognize national accomplishments.
The One Book, One Community campaign is a project designed to promote reading to young people in Cambodia through five major events: Reading competitions, book distribution, mobile libraries, library development and book fair.
The campaign officially began in Kampong Speu in February 2023 and will take place in the capital and all 24 provinces through January 2025, with candidates from each province eventually competing against one another at the national level.
