SUFFOLK, Va. (WVEC) -- Suffolk Public Library won $1,500 from Shark Tank's Mark Cuban after taking part in a Winter Reading Challenge.
In January, over 100 libraries across the country accepted the challenge to collectively read at least one million minutes and 50,000 books in January.
Three other libraries in Virginia participated in the challenge, but Suffolk Public Library was the only competing library in the Hampton Roads region.
In total, 84,002 books were read across the country, plus a remarkable seven million minutes of reading time.
Suffolk received the $1,500 prize for being a top book-logging library. The money will be used to support library classes and events.
“I’m inspired by the work libraries do for their communities,” said Cuban. “The prize for everyone is to pay it forward to an awesome organization focused on literacy and access to books.”
A total of 1,085 readers registered in Suffolk for the challenge and 457 of them registered as a class or group.
In addition to the prize money from the Winter Reading Challenge, the local library also received $3,000 from anonymous Suffolk residents to be used towards purchasing books.
