A PADIHAM Primary School pupil is celebrating after being crowned the regional winner of a book reading competition.

Holly Martin, nine, beat off tough competition from pupils from 451 schools to be named ‘Read for My School’ winner in the North West.

The annual competition chall- enges pupils in England to read as many books as they can in two months, either online from a free digital library, or off-line.

Primary and secondary sch-ool pupils from years three to eight were split into two age groups, and challenged to read books from eight categories.

Two regional winners were selected and entered in the runn- ing to win two national awards, due to be presented at a cer-emony in London in June.

Self-confessed bookworm Holly read an 256 books in just nine weeks during the competition, which ran from January 27 to March 28.

Year four pupil Holly said: “I loved reading on the comp-uter and being able to choose from all different types of books.

“It made me read more at home, and with my friends.”

Holly won a book voucher, donated by Waterstones, a set of eight of the recommended reads, and a donation of 100 books for Padiham Primary School.

In the North West, more than 26,000 pupils read more than 108,000 books on the compet-ition website, between them.

Year five teacher Kerrie White, from Padiham Primary School, said: “Our junior classes have thoroughly enjoyed the Read for My School exper-ience for the second time, and we look forward to next year.

“As a school, we are extr-emely proud of Holly’s achiev- ement, and are grateful to the Read for My School team for this exciting experience.”