David Y. Ige

The Hawaii State Public Library System (HSPLS) presented the 2017 Teen Summer Reading–Oahu Finale August 5, in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of its Teen Summer Reading Program, at Windward Mall Center Stage.

Since 1992, more than 80,000 participants (grades 6 -12) have read over half-a-million books! To encourage teens to read, this year’s participants were entered into a lucky drawing. Twenty-four Oahu teens were selected to vie in winning exciting “tech gadget” prizes.

Each finalist received a prize and the “Top Three” prize winners were Abhinav Erukulapati, the Manoa Public Library finalist, who won the Grand Prize of a 11.6” Samsung Chromebook computer; Sasha Daniel, Hawaii Kai Public Library finalist, who won an LG –220W Hi-Fi Entertainment System; and Avalon Horne, Waialua Public Library finalist, who won a Vizio 32” LED TV.

The finalists had signed up for the 6-week Teen Summer Reading Program from June 4th through July 15th. At this year’s event, each teen participated in an exciting new “game” featuring pizza boxes with a special prize inside.

Corporate sponsor Hawaii Pizza Hut has supported the Program for 25 consecutive years providing fabulous prizes for the Finale event and teen prize drawings for 26 Neighbor Island libraries.

The Friends of the Library of Hawaii sponsored the entertainment for the Finale and is the major sponsor of the annual HSPLS Summer Reading Program for keiki, teens, adults, and kupuna. For the first time, the program was easy to join and log reading minutes from anywhere, any time, and with any smart device because it was online. This year, more than 13,600 participants read more than 11.6 million minutes!

State Librarian Stacey A. Aldrich congratulated each teen and presented their prize. Teen award-winning vocalist and ukulele performer Karlie Goya offered a Michael Jackson medley as a prelude to the program and also performed during intermission. Radio Personality Lina Girl of Krater 96.3 FM, a devoted library patron, emceed this year’s event.

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PHOTO CAPTION: The Hawaii State Public Library System’s 2017 Teen Summer Reading Program-Oahu Finale Winners were joined by State Librarian Stacey A. Aldrich, Leah Allen of Hawaii Pizza Hut, Nainoa Mau of the Friends of the Library of Hawaii, Teen award-winning vocalist/ukulele performer Karlie Goya, and emcee Lina Girl at Windward Mall Center Stage.