Skip to main content

You could win $100 just by reading: How to enter Paste BN's Summer Book Challenge


Summer reading is in full swing.

Vacations and beach days are perfect for diving into a good book, and we're here to help you build the perfect TBR. Paste BN's Book Challenge is back by popular demand, and you have a chance to win a $100 gift card to Bookshop.org. Our printable bingo card has categories across genres to expand your reading goals and is open from now until Sept. 30.

Our last winner was John J. Wojciechowski, a reader from New Jersey who crossed off a row of bingo squares after reading “Catcher in the Wry" by Bob Uecker (baseball as a theme), "Trigger Warning" by Neil Gaiman (short story collection) and "The Bass Reeves Trilogy" by Sidney Thompson (historical fiction), among others.

Want to try your luck this round?

How to join Paste BN’s Summer Book Challenge

To submit your bingo card, fill out this entry form and let us know your contact information and what books you've read to complete the challenge. Be sure to read all instructions and fill the form out only once.

Click here for a printable version of the bingo board.

Anyone who participates by submitting a bingo card will be entered into a gift card giveaway. The winner will be notified via email within five business days after the drawing. You must be 18 or older to enter. Check out the full contest rules here. 

The challenge includes intentionally varied bingo spaces so readers of all genres can participate. For example, you could read five books and clear the entire top row, or take advantage of the free space in the middle and check off four other boxes. Each box needs to correspond to a different title – no counting one book in multiple boxes! Books should be read during the contest entry period, July 1 to Sept. 30.

Here’s an example of how I would fill it out:

  • Whodunit mystery: "A Murder for Miss Hortense" by Mel Pennant
  • Nonfiction: "How to Lose Your Mother" by Molly Jong-Fast
  • Set in space: "Of Monsters and Mainframes" by Barbara Truelove
  • Makes you laugh: "Endling" by Maria Reva
  • LGBTQ+ author: "A Language of Limbs" by Dylin Hardcastle

We’d love it if you also tagged us on social media (@usatodaylife) with your filled-out bingo card (here’s how to add photos of book covers to your card using Instagram Story), but remember, you still have to fill out the entry form for a chance at the giveaway.

Clare Mulroy is Paste BN’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you’re reading at cmulroy@usatoday.com