PBS Utah Reading Marathon Offers Rewards for 600 Minutes of Reading

Thirty-four years ago, as the national marathon running boom reached its peak, the Public Broadcasting System launched a reading initiative designed to build lifelong literacy habits in children.

Children who read for 600 minutes during the month of November—averaging 20 minutes a day—earned a prize, according to the Deseret News. While the national network eventually dropped the program, Utah’s affiliate, PBS Utah, kept it going.

In its 1992 debut, just a couple hundred kindergarten through sixth-grade students from the Salt Lake Valley hit the 600-minute mark. Back then, organizers fit everyone into a single room for a Super Reader party at the Salt Lake County Fairgrounds in late January.

Participation has climbed steadily every year since, especially after organizers opened the challenge to preschoolers. Last year, 33,000 children participated—enough to fill the Delta Center nearly twice, the Deseret News reported.

This year’s numbers will remain unknown until November 30, when participants log into pbsutah.org/reading to submit their totals. The campaign arrives alongside the Cox administration’s Utah Reads Initiative, which aims to address a decline in grade-level reading proficiency across local schools.

Instead of a single party at the fairgrounds, successful readers now receive the PBS Kids Utah Adventure Pass. The pass includes 30 coupons for free entry into attractions across the state, ranging from Toad’s Fun Zone go-karts and Hogle Zoo to the St. George Discovery Site, Millcreek Common ice skating, the Clark Planetarium, the Ogden Nature Center, and a free Ferris wheel ride at Scheels.

Check Out PBS Utah’s Reading Marathon Kickoff Party

Additional community partners have expanded the reward pool. The Salt Lake City Public Library offers a free book to any child who asks in January and February. The University of Utah athletic department provides 10 free child passes to men’s and women’s basketball games alongside half-off tickets for accompanying adults, while the Utah Shakespeare Festival contributes a free child ticket with half-price admission for guests.

Program rules remain minimal. There is no limit on participation, and organizers enforce no rule book, relying entirely on the honor code.

“It’s not a competition,” Annie Frazier, PBS Utah education manager, told the Deseret News. “We want families to recognize that it’s more than just a grade or a score in standardized testing. We want them to see that reading is a tool that opens up the whole world.”

James Davie, who has served as station manager since 1998, noted that supporting children remains central to public television’s mission. “We feel it’s very much at the heart of who we are and what we do,” Davie told the Deseret News, tracing a line from Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow to modern efforts like Super Why’s Comic Book Adventures.

November 30 marks the final day of reading before participants submit their minutes online.