Incongruous? Maybe. Ingenious? Of course.

Pairing World Wrestling Entertainment, WWE, with a contest that rewards students for reading has been a great motivator for area students, and for two in particular, it has turned into something more.

Steel Valley School District students Ajoura Gwinn, 16, and Laquan Deen, 13, recently won trips to Orlando, Fla., and tickets to one of professional sport's greatest spectacles, WrestleMania XXIV.

"I was kind of skeptical at first when I heard about this contest," said Eva Mays, an assistant with the youth program at the Carnegie Library of Homestead in Munhall.

"I wasn't sure how into wrestling the local kids were, but I asked around and they got so excited ... ."

Ajoura and Laquan won regional essay contests on the subject of how WWE could inspire them to read. At the Orlando Public Library March 29, they'll be entered in a second round of competition, this time answering trivia about specific books. At stake are ringside seats for the mania, which will be broadcast on pay-per-view March 30.

Both said they will be taking their moms -- Tamika Gwinn and Vivian Clancy --to Florida. The library held a congratulations/sendoff party yesterday afternoon in the students' honor.

WWE turned out to be a huge carrot with an educational stick.

"I was checking out books and I read 'WrestleMania' on the flier and I said 'oh that's enough to get my interest' in a heartbeat," said Ajoura, who is in 10th grade.

Contestants had to read 20 books within a certain time, then write an essay to be submitted to co-sponsor Young Adult Library Services Association in Chicago.

In her essay, Ajoura wrote "I would go weeks without reading a single page, which led to unfinished books just sitting on my steps and me saying 'I'll get back to it later, or I'll start right after I do my homework.'

"I love wrestling, it's like a dramatic poetry within the four sides of the ring."

Ajoura said that win or lose, she was just happy to have jump-started her former love of reading.

"Before the onset, I had been losing my interest in reading. I don't know why. So I thought this was a great opportunity to get back into it."

She chose mostly fantasy fiction, falling back on a universal favorite: Harry Potter, and the books of Tamora Pierce.

"She seems sort of feminist to me," Ajoura said. "Always trying to empower young women and girls."

Ajoura, who is taking acting and modeling classes and is involved in Steel Valley's production of "My Favorite Year," is also in student government, French Club and Rotary. She's also taking a crack at writing her own novel which is, of course, of the fantasy genre.

"There is really a large market for fantasy right now, and Harry Potter did that," said Miss Mays. "Chick-lit is another trend we're seeing, also urban fiction."

Laquan, an eighth-grader at Steel Valley Middle School, is also a big Harry Potter fan and enjoys a variety of genres. He's in student government as well, and plays basketball and wrestles.

His whole family is "like, they read, read, read," he said.

Getting the news that he'd won the regional, he added, was unreal: "I just went crazy, I was so excited."

In his essay, Laquan wrote "WWE is like a subject in school to me. It's like I can't stop thinking about [WrestleMania] because WWE is funny, entertaining and exciting."

There are a number of events leading up to WrestleMania XXIV, including the students' trivia contest and various celebrity signings.

Laquan said there's another obvious attraction in Orlando he might consider: "I might just go to Disney World."