Midway Hills Primary Achieves Literacy Excellence with 2025 Malcolm Mitchell Reading Award

At Baldwin County School District, we know that reading is the foundation of academic success. Our dedication to literacy excellence has once again been recognized with a significant achievement – Midway Hills Primary has won the District wide premier 2025 Malcolm Mitchell Reading Award, earning their school the prestigious title of READBowl Champion!

READBowl is a global reading competition founded by Malcolm Mitchell, a former University of Georgia and NFL football player who is passionate about promoting literacy. This year, our district-wide initiative saw every school participating in the challenge, where students read as much as possible both in the classroom and at home. As a result, Baldwin County School District earned an impressive #65 spot on the global leaderboards, putting us in the top tier of schools who competed around the world!

District-Wide Collaboration

Our district’s success in the 2025 Malcolm Mitchell Reading Award was a result of a team effort. Baldwin High School Media Specialist Pamela Longino coordinated the competition across all schools with support from Director of Curriculum and Instruction Erica Ingram. At Midway Hills Primary, Media Specialist Jennifer Williamson led her school’s students to read over 1,000,000 minutes, helping to secure the district championship title, as well as a trophy and $500 towards the purchase of books for the media center.

“Our focus is on making reading a daily habit and building lifelong readers,” said Williamson. “Competitions like the Malcolm Mitchell Reading Award are just one piece of our larger mission to inspire a love of reading in our students.”

Director of Curriculum and Instruction Erica Ingram emphasized the district’s broader literacy initiatives. “We’ve always prioritized building strong reading skills in our students. House Bill 538 underscores the importance of these skills, but our district was ahead of the curve. We’re committed to fostering literacy excellence and creating confident, capable readers.”

Building a Culture of Literacy Excellence

MHP's victory in the Malcolm Mitchell Reading Award competition brings some light to our ongoing commitment to literacy excellence. Even before House Bill 538 emphasized the importance of foundational reading skills like phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, the Baldwin County School District was already taking steps to promote literacy. We have consistently invested in programs that build strong readers, including:

• Reading Across Content Areas: Encouraging students to apply reading skills in subjects like science, math, and social studies.

• Small Group Reading Instruction: Providing personalized support for students to meet their individual literacy goals.

• Teacher Training: Ensuring our educators are certified in evidence-based reading programs and literacy-focused instruction.

  
  

Looking Ahead

With over 808,000 participants and more than 520,000,000 minutes read worldwide, Baldwin County School District is proud to be ranked among the best for the 2025 Malcolm Mitchell Reading Award. We look forward to making next year’s competition an even bigger success and continuing to promote literacy excellence throughout our district.

Stay tuned for more updates on our ongoing reading initiatives and the exciting things happening across Baldwin County School District! Together, we’re building a community of lifelong readers and learners.

For more information about the READBowl and Malcolm Mitchell’s literacy initiative, visit https://readwithmalcolm.com/about/.