Twenty six teams from Tyne and Wear and Northumberland took part in this year’s Mini Lit Quiz, which is written and produced ‘in house.’

Our Quiz is modelled on the Kids Lit Quiz (UK) with both individual and team prizes, but has five rounds instead of ten and its own unique style.  Each round of ten questions follows a particular literary theme but, unlike the KLQ, there is also a Pictionary round featuring picture clues and between round elimination competitions for cash prizes.

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Although Marden Bridge C got the highest score in what proved to be a tricky opening round on the subject of kings, Chantry B played their Joker. This gave them an early lead, which they sustained through round 2.

Four teams beat the staff in the next round, which featured toys in stories and required contestants to have actually read the books! Newminster A played their Joker which pushed them into second place.

Now schools have got the hang of it, the Pictionary round is proving very popular and no fewer than ten teams played their Joker, which really shook things up! Newminster and Chantry disappeared from the scoreboard while Marden Bridge A popped into first place, closely followed by Corbridge B.

The staff reasserted themselves in round 4, which was all about sevens, but the scoreboard stayed essentially the same.

People clearly feel comfortable with villains as nine teams played their Jokers on this, the final round! Corbridge B, having held second place for two rounds, was tipped ignominiously off the scoreboard by steady performers, Marden Bridge C and by Gosforth East A. These teams took second and third places respectively.

Knowing their strengths and judicious playing of Jokers (which double a team’s score on the round in which they’re played) was key to this contest, as many teams found to their cost. Commiserations to Gosforth East A, who would have won convincingly had they known how well they would do on the Pictionary round and also to Staff B, who would otherwise have tied with Staff A. These things matter!

For the record, the staff teams performed consistently, remaining in one of the top three positions throughout the entire contest so a big ‘well done’ to them!

Teams that win the top three paces aren’t eligible for a round prize, so the final results are as follows:

 

1st place	Marden Bridge A		Round 1	Newminster B
2nd place	Marden Bridge C		Round 2	Corbridge B
3rd place	Gosforth East A		Round 3	Newminster A
			Round 4	Newminster D
			Round 5	Gosforth Central B

Chantry teams didn’t win anything this year but they still enjoyed themselves – and there’s always next year. They aren’t going to let Newminster get away with this!

A very big ‘thank you’ must go to our caretaking, catering and lunchtime supervision teams, who worked so hard to get Chantry hall ready in time for the afternoon’s competition, to our IT staff for their technical expertise and to our ten KS3 stewards, who stood out in the cold for half an hour to welcome our visitors and ensure that none of them got lost!  This really was a team effort.