DOVER — Read With Malcolm — the youth literacy initiative of Super Bowl champion and children’s book author Malcolm Mitchell — has announced Fairview Elementary School as the 2022 state champion in its fifth annual READBowl Global Reading Championship.

Fairview students read for a combined 57,000 minutes during the four-week competition, held Jan. 10 through Super Bowl Sunday, when Mr. Mitchell named the winners.

To date, more than 325,000 students in all 50 states and five countries have competed in READBowl.

Each year, world champions and state champions are crowned in four grade-level READBowl conferences.

Fairview, introduced to READBowl through a partnership with My Very Own Library of the United Way of Delaware, is looking to take its game to the next level in 2023 and represent Delaware as world champions of reading.

READBowl is free and open to any team of kids — in schools, clubs, groups and programs. It is one of a series of three free virtual reading challenges held each year. The next challenge is READCamp, where Mr. Mitchell will serve as head coach and kids can earn rewards and certificates for reading this summer.

The READBowl celebration was supported by the United Way of Delaware, Dover City Council, Roma Pizza, The Trophy Shop and Dr. Chanda Jackson Short, president of the Capital School District board of education.