First, we have five winners from the end-of-event survey! They are:

• Margot from Joyfully Retired, who will get a box of the Earth Day books from Hachette
• Kristi from Books and Needlepoint, who will get a set of Nymeth’s bookmarks, as well as a book of her choice from our prize list
• Ali from Worducopia, who will receive one of Literate Housewife’s commemorative bookmarks and a book of her choice from our prize list
• Francesca from Scribacchina, who will receive a $15 gift card
• Melissa from Literary Adventures, who will also receive a $15 gift card

Next we have most time spent reading, which, from what we were able to determine was:

• Samantha from Bookworms and tea lovers!

Samantha read for over 21 hours! She’ll get one book up to $25 from Amazon, which was donated by Laura from Laura’s Reading Reflections. I know she’ll be like a kid in a candy store!

We had a tie for most enthusiastic cheerleaders, which was:

• Eva from A Striped Armchair
• Beth from Beth Fish Reads

Both Eva and Beth will get a $20 gift certificate to Powell’s. Lucky girls!

We also randomly picked one participant from all four read-a-thons, and that was:

• Joy from Joystory

Joy wins a box of 14 new releases from Hachette. Woo hoo! That should give you plenty of books for the next read-a-thon, Joy!

Finally, we just wanted to announce that Vasilly was the winner of Eva’s Dewey mini-challenge. Congratulations, Vasilly! She won a box of Earth Day books and a set of two of Nymeth’s homemade bookmarks.

Many people who participated in the read-a-thon committed to reading for charity. Some of the charities that will receive a donation are ProLiteracy, Books for Africa, Book Wish Foundation, and Living Water International, just to name a few. Readers did a fantastic job raising a combined total of $1,478.94!

Of the readers who read for charity, we picked a random reader, which was:

• Michelle from 1morechapter

Michelle won a box of Earthday books and a set of homemade dishcloths donated by Dar.

Winners, please contact Hannah at wordlily at gmail to claim your loot!

We hope you’ll participate with us in the October 2009 read-a-thon! Dates have not yet been chosen, but we will let you know as soon as we have the October dates!

This hour we have a mini-challenge hosted by Erin Straza. Looks like her Reading Madness mini-challenge has options! The winner will receive a signed copy of Ann Kroeker’s soon-to-be-released book, Not So Fast. This mini-challenge will run for two hours, until the end of Hour 17.

Still occurring:
• Mid-Event Survey (this will be open for one more hour from this posting)
• Tammy’s mini-challenge (this one’s open for one more hour from this posting)
• Debbie’s mini-challenge (this one’s open until she’s given away all her books)
• Karin’s Creativity Challenge
• Vote for the winner of the comic challenge

I’m also much relieved to see that one of our biggest cheerleaders over on Twitter today has been released from suspension (from tweeting too much, I think)! Yay, @BethFishReads! You’ve done an outstanding job today.

This hour we’ve got Karin’s Creativity Challenge. The winner will receive a pack of book-related bookmarks (some of which are handmade).

The winner of Shannon’s Writer a Letter mini-challenge is Reeder’s Corner, congratulations! Send me an email (WordLily at gmail) to claim your prize (Suzy’s Zoo gift bag with reading themed bookmarks and stationery, plus one book from the list (your choice).

Still occurring:
• Mid-Event Survey (this will be open through Hour 16)
• Tammy’s mini-challenge (this one’s open through Hour 16)
• Debbie’s mini-challenge (this one’s open until she’s given away all her books)
• Vote for the winner of the comic challenge

The winners of Jessica’s Love Your Local Library mini-challenge are: Memory and BlondieRocket. Congratulations! Send me an email (WordLily at gmail) to get your prizes.

Still occurring:
• Mid-Event Survey (this will be open through Hour 16)
• Debbie’s mini-challenge (this one’s open until she’s given away all her books)
• Vote for the winner of the comic challenge

This hour’s mini-challenge is the Mid-Event Survey (see below). Post your answers on your blog, and come back here and leave a link to your actual post with the answers. If you complete the survey and add the direct link to your answers in the Mr Linky in this post, you’ll be entered in a drawing for a Chocolate Monkey and a box of Earth Day books from Hachette Book Group (see the prize list for a picture of the monkey and the contents of the box). Winners will be announced hour 17.

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now?

2. How many books have you read so far?

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?

9. Are you getting tired yet?

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?

Still happening:
• Kathrin’s mini-challenge (Just one hour left from the time of this posting!)
• Debbie’s mini-challenge
• Vote for the winner of the comic challenge

My husband recently brought me some small, fragrant flowers from the yard (I never see them, they must be hidden well). They remind me of Lily of the Valley, but I don’t think that’s right — the blooms aren’t very round. They rest in a vase beside the computer. I’d take a picture, but they’re miniature. I don’t think I could do them justice. What’s brightening your reading space today?

This hour we have Debbie’s Crossing BookCrossing mini-challenge. She’s planning to give away all the books she reads during the read-a-thon!

Still happening:
• Shannon’s mini-challenge (Just one hour left from the time of this posting!)
• Jessica’s mini-challenge (Just one hour left from the time of this posting!)
• Kathrin’s mini-challenge (this will be continuing through Hour 13)
• Vote for the winner of the comic challenge

The new mini-challenge this hour is Shannon’s Write a letter mini-challenge. The winner will receive a Suzy’s Zoo gift bag with reading themed bookmarks and stationery, donated by Book Psmith, plus 1 book from the list (winner’s choice).

Elizabeth posted the winners of her First Lines challenge: Lily at Related Reading, Ferrywoman, and Becky of Becky’s Book Reviews. Congrats to you all! Head over to Elizabeth’s post to see what you’ve won.

Still happening:
• Vote for the winner of the comic challenge
• Kathrin’s mini-challenge (this will be continuing through Hour 13)
• Jessica’s mini-challenge (this will be continuing through Hour 12)

• New mini-challenge: Books to TV Cross-Over Mini-Challenge, hosted by Kathrin. The winner will receive a copy of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.

• We want to give a shout out and hearty thanks to Vasilly for all the hard work she did reminding tons of participants yesterday about the read-a-thon! Go thank her, please! As a token of our appreciation, we’d like to give Vasilly a $10 gift card to Amazon and a commemorative April 2009 read-a-thon bookmark, created and donated by Literate Housewife. Vasilly, email me (WordLily at gmail) to claim your reward.

• Another winner to announce: The winner of Sarah’s YouTube video chain mini-challenge is ferrywoman at Fire in the Hole!! Congratulations. Please email me (WordLily at gmail) to claim your prize.

• Remember Kim’s Create a Comic mini-challenge, that started in Hour 6? Well, now it’s time to vote for the best one! Help choose the winner.

Still going on:
Jessica’s mini-challenge (this will be continuing through Hour 12)

Is it time to get a glass of water? Are you hydrating?

A new mini-challenge starting this hour, hosted by Elizabeth. It’s a First Lines challenge. This mini-challenge is just for this hour. Go check it out!

The winner of the Hour 7 Take a Walk challenge and the recipient of a $15 Amazon gift card is: Meghan at Medieval Bookworm. Congrats! Please email me (wordlily at gmail) to claim your prize.

Still going on:
Jessica’s mini-challenge (this will be continuing through Hour 12)

We have a new mini-challenge host this hour! Jessica from The Curious Reader is hosting the Love Your Local Library mini-challenge! Readers will be asked to answer various questions about their library on their own blog. Two winners will be chosen and will win one of two Pulitzer Prize packs, courtesy of The Biblio Brat.

Bart’s mini-challenge ended and he’s announced the winners! Lily from Related Reading got a perfect score and Valentina from Valentina’s Room was runner up. Congratulations, Lily! We’re all in awe of your knowledge. Valentina will coordinate with Bart to claim her runner up prize.

Still happening:

Kim’s mini-challenge (this is the last hour for this challenge!)