It was a packed house at the Mae Wilson on Friday, with all 400-plus seats filled with students, staff and family members of the teams competing in the 2018 Battle of the Books.

The atmosphere resembled that of a sporting event. There were signs, costumes, and big cheers as right answers and high scores were flashed on the big screen.

This was the Holy Trinity Catholic School Division third annual "Battle Of The Books", which pits elementary students from all five Moose Jaw HTCSD schools, and one a group from Shaunavon, against each other in literary knowledge.

Autumn Saunders made the trip with her class from Shaunavon and said it was quite a stressful day;

"We were answering questions about the 10 books we had to read over 3 months, and we were really nervous on stage! We had to answer 50 questions and I would say it was the wildest moment of my life"

"Our school joined battle of the books 2 years ago, and we got second place this year. We won red ribbons and books".

Shaunavon teacher Yvonne Fidelak says while the premise seems simple, it can be a pretty tough competition;

"There's a variety of different levels (of books), and being able to help each student at each different level try and learn and understand the books was a lot of fun, very exciting".

The winner of this years Battle of the Books was ‘The Book Busters’.