Four lucky students will have the opportunity to win a new bike courtesy of the Freemasons of Langley.

Books for Bikes is a challenge in which students in grades K-5 at South Whidbey Elementary and South Whidbey Academy are encouraged to read as much as possible in order to enter a drawing to win a bike.

The event is designed to encourage children to read more and to get excited about books.

The program has been taking place for 10 years, and is a bi-annual event for the South Whidbey School District. The Freemasons of Langley donate four bikes twice a year. Two are given to younger students and two to older students.

The contests take place in winter and at the end of the school year prior to summer break.

The winter contest coincides with the winter Read-a-thon, which began two weeks ago.

Valerie Brown, South Whidbey Elementary School Library media specialist, explained that the more books students read, the better chance they have of winning one of the bikes.

During the Read-a-thon, students also receive weekly incentives for turning in their reading logs.

Brown said staff will determine the top readers for each grade level based upon accelerated reader points. Students take a quiz after finishing each book, and their scores determine how many points they earned. According to Brown, there is also a friendly competition to see which class can earn the most points.

The winter Read-a-thon will end on Feb. 4; the drawing for bikes will take place Feb. 12.

“Anything we can do to encourage reading is great,” Brown said. “When you practice reading it helps you in everything.”