Tennesseans for Student Success (TSS) is excited to once again launch its  annual Tristar Reads contest to encourage children to read during their summer break. While Tennessee students showed important improvements on the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test, nearly seven in ten are still reading below NAEP proficient.

Each summer, TSS invites all Tennessee students entering grades K-12 to work on their reading comprehension skills by participating the the contest and spending at least 20 minutes each day reading a book. This year’s program will run from May 27 to August 4, 2025.

At the end of the summer, we will award total of $4,000 in college scholarships ($1,000 each) to the students who read the most in the below categories: 

• One overall winner
• One elementary school student (K-4)
• One middle school student (5-8) 
• One high school student (9-12) 

Children wishing to participate in Tristar Reads must register online and agree to keep track of all hours they spend reading and a list of the books they read. Reading logs must be submitted to Tristar Reads at the end of the summer to determine scholarship winners. ,

“Last year students spent nearly 680 thousand minutes reading during our contest, and we’re excited to see what this year’s participants can accomplish over the summer,” said Tennesseans for Student Success President and CEO Lana Skelo. “We launched Tristar Reads to help prevent the “summer slide” that many students struggle to climb out of when they return to school in the fall. Reading just 20 minutes a day empowers children to keep their reading comprehension skills sharp and puts them on the path to success when the summer break is over.” 

TSS is additionally partnering with Atmos Energy and Vooks to provide children with access to hundreds of digital books. Students who are new to Vooks can sign up online for a free 1-year subscription provided through a partnership grant from Atmos Energy. 

Prior Tristar Reads winners will be ineligible to compete in the same category. 

Tennesseans for Student Success is a statewide network of parents and caregivers, teachers, community leaders, volunteers, and advocates dedicated to championing and supporting Tennessee’s students and their futures.