In a three round Battle of the Books competition among twelve teams from Prince William County, City of Manassas, Front Royal, Culpeper County, Fauquier County and Rappahannock County, St. John emerged as the Grand Champion.

On April 30th St. John the Evangelist School Battle of the Books teammates Kathryn Mullin, Anthony Del Rosso, Maddie Dargis, Candace Gearhart, Elizabeth Liebel, Caroline Liebel and Tess Bennett were overjoyed when they learned they had beaten their closest rival by 80 points. Since last August the team had read 19 books numerous times and practiced once a week with their coach, Mrs. Anderson.

The four hour evening event took place at Highland School in Warrenton, VA. Round One consisted of a multiple choice test, in which Anthony Del Rosso of St. John School ranked the highest individual score. Round Two involved five room changes as teams battled one on one answering one hundred "In what book…" questions. Round Three involved all of the teams answering "In what two books…" questions and identifying quotes.

Mrs. Anderson, librarian at St. John, was thrilled for the team. She said when it was all over, "I guided them, but they did the hard work. One student, Anthony Del Rosso, read the books over four times each. I'm very proud of them all."