Nineteen Dillon Middle School students recently earned the privilege of casting their votes for the 2014 South Carolina Junior Book Award.  
This award is presented annually to the author of the book chosen by middle school students from across the state.  One purpose of the state book award program is to encourage students to read good quality contemporary literature.  
To be eligible to cast a vote, a student must have read three or more of the 20 nominated books for the current year.
The nominated books are chosen by a committee of media specialists and classroom teachers from across the state.  
The South Carolina Book Awards Program began in 1976 with only a few schools partcipating.  
The latest available figures show that 30,000 students from 300 schools statewide are currently participating in this program at one of four levels:  S.C. Picture Book Award, S.C. Children’s Book Award, S.C. Junior Book Award, and S.C. Young Adult Book Award.
A voting party was held in the DMS Media Center on Friday, Feb. 28.  
Students enjoyed refreshments and discussed the books they had read.  
Mr. Rodney Cook, DMS principal, congratulated  the students for earning the privilege to vote in this statewide program.  
He also emphasized to the students the importance of reading as the key to success in life.  
Mrs. Marcia Bethea, DMS media specialist, gave each student an “I Voted” sticker, a certificate of participation, and a pencil inscribed with the motto “Readers are Leaders/Leaders are Readers.”
Each student’s vote was sent to the chairman of the South Carolina Junior Book Award Committee, to be tallied with the votes of other middle school students from across the state.  
The winning book will be announced in March, and the book’s author will be honored at next year’s South Carolina Association of School Librarians’ conference.