La Grande Middle School’s Battle of the Books team wins regionals & advances to state

By Garrett Christensen on Tuesday, March 10th, 2026 in Northeastern Oregon News Northeastern Oregon Top Stories

LA GRANDE – (Release from the Intermountain Education Service District) La Grande Middle School’s (LMS) Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) team, Projekt Winners, won the Regional Tournament in Baker City on Saturday, March 7^th. They advance to the State Championship in Salem on April 11^th.

Projekt Winners competed in eight battles this past Saturday against 10 other teams in the 6^th-8^th Grade Division to win regionals. The team, which spells its name like that because of one of the book titles this year, is comprised of five students: Elizabeth, Brooke, Anneliese, Lucy and Estelle. LMS’ OBOB Coordinator this year is Margaret Spence, Library Clerk at the middle school. This is the first year in many years that LMS has participated.

“Battle of the Books has been a lot of fun; this is another way to get kids excited about reading, wanting to read and getting their hands on books. It’s also a great way for me to get to know more kids, it’s a really positive thing,” Spence said.

A total of four teams of five students each competed at the middle school to determine the winning team at the school. “The students have loved being part of a team, getting to meet other students and loved the challenge of memorizing lots of details in the books.”

Spence said it’s great to have OBOB at LMS again because students who participated at their elementary schools now have the chance to compete again at the middle school level.