USA TODAY’s Summer Book Challenge is open now through Aug. 31, with readers able to win a $100 Bookshop.org gift card by completing a genre-diverse bingo card. Submissions must be entered once online, and books have to be read during the contest period from Ju
When summer plans start piling up—beach days, weekend trips, the usual “I’ll catch up later”—one simple idea is moving to the front of the line: fill out a bingo card, then win a shot at a $100 Bookshop.org gift card.
USA TODAY’s Summer Book Challenge is back by popular demand and is open now through Aug. 31. The challenge uses a printable bingo card with categories across genres. designed to pull readers into new corners of fiction and nonfiction while they build a TBR. The contest asks participants to submit a completed bingo card through an online entry form. sharing contact information and the books they read to complete the challenge.
To join, fill out the online entry form and make sure to read the instructions carefully. Entries must be submitted only once. Anyone who submits a bingo card will be entered into a gift card giveaway. and the winner will be notified via email within five business days after the drawing. To enter, readers must be 18 or older. Full contest rules are available at books.usatoday.com.
The mechanics matter. too—because the card is built to include intentionally varied bingo spaces so different reading habits can fit. A player can clear the entire top row by reading five books. or use the free space in the middle and check off four other boxes. Each box must correspond to a different title, with no double-counting the same book in multiple squares.
Books should be read during the contest entry period, June 6 to Aug. 31. The bingo board itself is printable, and the challenge also includes a starter pack meant to help readers who don’t know where to start.
For readers looking for “something steamy,” the suggestions point toward cowboy romance or paranormal romance. For adventure with lower stakes, cozy mystery or cozy fantasy is offered as a path. There’s also a nod to viral obsessions, including the LitRPG subgenre with “Dungeon Crawler Carl.”
The challenge leans hard into variety, and that shows up in the way sample answers are laid out. The card’s example includes narrative nonfiction with “London Falling” by Patrick Radden Keefe. a book set in a small town—“Into the Blue” by Emma Brodie—and LGBTQ+ representation with “John of John” by Douglas Stuart. It also includes a classic pick, “Animal Farm” by George Orwell, alongside a “Free space.”.
The sequence is simple and strict: read during June 6 through Aug. 31, map each bingo square to a different title, submit the entry form once, and wait for an email within five business days after the drawing.
The contest runs through Aug. 31, so if summer reading has already started to slip into “too late,” this is the kind of deadline that pulls plans back into focus—one square at a time.
Summer Book Challenge Bookshop.org gift card reading bingo card summer reading contest Patrick Radden Keefe Douglas Stuart George Orwell LitRPG cozy mystery cowboy romance