December at Pinnacle book club comes with so much excitement. First, members are excited to have completed their targets. It is also when we give out awards to the winners of the #25bookhallenge. This year being our fourth edition was challenging. For one, the pandemic continues to ravage the entire world, hence leading to low morale. There was also economic downturn with several people losing their jobs. However, as a group, we managed to make progress against all odds. We are excited to share below, the winners of the competition.
Our first prize winner is Stanley Mata
Stanley is a student of Computer engineering at Nnamdi Azikiwe University. He is also a freelance writer, personal development advocate, and a shoemaker. His lifelong dream is to become an expert in information security, a branch of cybersecurity.
He started the journey to finishing 25 books in 2019 but unfortunately, he finished fourth, narrowly missing out on the competition. However, he ended up reading 42 books which made him to fall in love with reading and traveling the world through books. This year, Stanley says he already had a strategy to win the competition, so instead of a competition; it was a walk through the park.
Here is what he has to say about the competition
“Reading exposed my mind to endless possibilities and I’ll continue to advocate for people to read and be literate. Being part of the competition helped me make better decisions. I now have confidence in communication abilities. I have also learnt to have an open mind to ideas”
Out second place winner is Vivian Ifionu Onyinyechukwu
Vivian studied Medical Lab. Science at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus. She is currently an NYSC member, serving in Ekiti State. Vivian joined the competition because she likes reading and was delighted to learn she could get paid to do it. After her first year in the club, she became more interested in reading to develop herself to be a better citizen of Nigeria and the world at large than in winning.
Here is what she has to say.
“I started the year with a vague goal of just reading. I had no concrete or specific plans. However, the pandemic and some other niceties life brings with it left me with a lot of time. Encouraged by the ‘one book a month’ and by Chizzy Nwokoye (the founder) who had promised to buy me ice-cream at some point (sorry, I do not forget such things) I decided to make it 25 and I exceeded it.
Being in the competition has helped me to make good use of my time, to travel through time and I hope in time to contribute much more to my family and society in general. Thank you, Pinnacle Book Club, for this opportunity, I look forward to future collaborations”
Our 3rd place winner is Nweke Favour.
Favour is a 100-level student of Human Physiology at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. She is also a baker and co-runner of Emerald world (an event planning company). Favour’s hobbies are cooking, baking, singing, and reading.
Favour developed a huge interest in reading from childhood. She read everything ranging from novels to newspapers, and magazines. Unfortunately, when she got into secondary school, the interest declined. In January, she heard about the challenge and joined Pinnacle Book upon invitation by Barr Ginika Onyenukporo.
She felt it would a big way to help her to go back to being a voracious reader and even more. She testifies that it was not exactly easy to keep up in school but when covid19 struck and she came home, she was surprised at how much she could read.
Here is what has to say
“I gained a lot of new knowledge during the competition. My knowledge and insight have been broadened and will hopefully get better. In total, I read 42 books ranging from Inspirational, spiritual, leadership, relationships, lifestyle, catering, baking, non-fiction genres. I am grateful to the organizers and all the leaders of the Pinnacle book club for this push. Thanks for all you do. God bless you all”.
