Celebrity judges and celebrity “wannabe’s” were “in-the-house” Tuesday night, June 29, at the Cedartown Library’s very own Cedartown Idol competition.

The event is part of the Library’s summer vacation reading club program called “Step to the Beat.”

School-age children are enticed to get hooked on reading by participating in fun activities planned by the library staff. Rewards are given as young readers earn points by the amount of time spent reading each week.

The “Idol” competition held the same format as the real “American Idol” on television. Youngsters participating perform a song of their choice and then had to face three judges for comments.

With knick-names given by the library staff, the judges were “Uptown” Susan Brown, “Big Daddy” Sam Gibson and WGAA’s “Jammin” Jordan Merrick. Comments by the judges were all positive, of course, as they encouraged every performer with compliments.

There was standing-room-only in the meeting room at the library as family and friends gathered to watch their little prodigy perform.

Even the staff took part in the fun as they entertained the audience while the judges tallied the scores and made final decisions.

Winners were named in three categories including Group Performance, Individual Performance and Best Costume.

Group Performance first place went to Tiara Penson, Teyana Prior and Destiny Whatley for “Cheetah Girls.” Second place was Nancy and Areli Cervantes singing a funny song called “Mud.” And third place was brother and sister duet Jessica and Matthew McDonald singing “Picture.”

Individual winners included Matthew McDonald for “Follow Me” first place; Dana Lee, second place for “Because You loved Me” and Matti Ritter received third place with “The Blues.”

Best Costumes were awarded to cheerleader, Kassandra Beck singing a Carmen song and the duo performing “Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” McCall Pirkle and Payton Worthy.