The St Peter’s team were rearing to go at the start of the national Lit Quiz final. From left: Thomas Giltrap, Georgie-Rose Boyd, Emma Coley and Esme MacGillivray.
St Peter’s School’s Lit Quiz team successfully put their book knowledge to the test at the Lit Quiz national final in Wellington on June 10, finishing fifth out of 16 teams representing their regions.
Having been one point off third place it was a fantastic achievement for the young team, which came first at the regional round in May.
Gaining two points for every correct answer, and losing a point for every incorrect answer, it was a seemingly simple question along the lines of, “What is a book with measured lines that you write in?” that slipped the St Peter’s team from third to fifth, after they answered, “notebook”. The judges said they would have accepted work book, exercise book or scribbler, but not notebook, much to the amazement of anyone with common sense.
But the team of Thomas Giltrap, 12, Esme MacGillivray, 12, Emma Coley, 11, and Georgie-Rose Boyd, 12, happily settled with their fifth-place result.
“I was really proud, I was aiming for tenth,” said Esme.
“It was better than I expected,” added Thomas.
“After the first half we were coming 11th,” Georgie-Rose Boyd explained, “but we ended up coming 5th, so we were really proud that we managed to get 5th.”
“We told them it’s just like in a sports game, you don’t necessarily agree with the ref’s decision, these sorts of things happen,” said their support coach Kay Greed, who helped prep the team along with Carol Coley. “I thought they did amazingly well. They put lots and lots of time into it, they were so keen to do lots of practice sessions, and it was a whole new experience for them.”
The young team gained confidence as the rounds went on and managed to collect (and not lose) enough points for 5th.
“It was really cool,” said Emma, explaining that each participant was given a new book to take home. “We all traded, I ended up getting a comic book,” she smiled.
