16-year-old Anna Arakelyan is the winner of Newmag Readers’ Prize (photos)

The winner of the Newmag Readers Prize is Anna Arakelyan. She is 16-year-old. Anna is studying marketing in the N1 state college of Yerevan. She plans to apply to the French University in Armenia and study in the faculty of Law. Anna claims that reading is an integral part of her daily life. “I really enjoy reading biographies, historic and business literature. I also like books with psychological themes. I’ve been reading Newmag books for a while now and decided to take part in this contest.”

There were several rules for participation in this contest. To take part in this contest readers should have written an interesting, analytical review about their favorite book in the Newmag’s website.  “The first book that I’ve read from Newmag’s collection was Messi’s biography. I really liked Barcelona football club, so I’ve decided to read the book. That’s when I discovered Newmag Publishing House and started to buy all the new books.”

After reading Messi’s autobiography, Anna started to read Yuval Noah Harari’s “Sapiens” and David Alen’s “Getting Things Done” books. “I’ve read Messi’s biography really fast. However, I was reading Harari’s Sapiens slowly. For me, reading is not just about quantity. My main goal is to deeply understand and analyze the author's ideas.”

The editorial team of Newmag Publishing House has read more than 50 reviews. The Newmag Reader’s Prize was awarded in the Music Hall of Yeraz Park. Anna heard her name and for the first seconds she did not believe what she heard.  “I was reading the other reviews and thinking that I had no chances to win. Well, firstly, I am only 16-year-old. Other participants were experienced readers. I was already walking home when I heard my name.” 

Anna got a chance to get all the new books of Newmag for free until December 31, 2021. At the end of the day, for the final accords of the festival, Erik Karapetyan, Sofi Mkheyan, Srbuhi Sargsyan and Gor Sujyan performed in the Music Hall.