Austin Elementary School and Henderson Middle School are back-to-back reading bowl champions.

The two schools placed first in the 21st Annual DeKalb County School District’s Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl on January 25 at Arabia Mountain High School. Tucker High School finished first in the high school division.

More than 90 teams representing elementary, middle and high schools participated in this year’s event. The Jeopardy-style competition pits two teams against each other to test students’ reading comprehension on selected books. High school students were required to read 20 books, and elementary and middle school students had to read 10 books.

Mrs. Helen Ruffin, a media specialist at the former Sky Haven Elementary School, created the competition in 1986. In 2000, after Ruffin’s retirement, several library media specialists formed the DeKalb County Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. Four years later, it became a state-wide competition.

All first and second place teams advanced to the Metro Regional Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl, which will be held on February 8 at Clayton State University.