The Eight 2022 HIS Reads Finals

In Hokkaido, the April melt makes way for May flowers in the form of Cherry Blossoms, reminding us all of the seasons and effervescence of life. At Hokkaido International School May is also the time to honor our ongoing secondary tradition: to defend reading.

During the month of May, secondary students from grades 7 to 12 competed against each other to earn a place in the 8th Annual HIS Reads Finals on June 3rd. The qualifying rounds were extremely competitive, providing the special judges with the challenge of selecting 16 finalists from the 25 students selected. 

On June 3rd, from 1:30 to 3:30, the following 16 students competed for prizes and pride to become the Eighth HIS Reads champion.

In a nail-biting competition, junior Miyako Cammack edged out seventh-grader Jiwoo Kim to earn her very own copy of Colson Whitehead’s 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning The Underground Railroad, along with ¥5,000 in tosho card cash to purchase more great books from now until next year’s title defense.

The 2022 Finalists along with the book they defended can be seen here in the final brackets as well as the after-contest photos:

To view the entire finals, please enjoy this video: https://youtu.be/XUgFYbaYnow