Bi-Annual Book-Collecting Contest 2010
Calling All UVa Student Book Collectors!
The Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia
announces its
biennial
Book Collecting Prize
open to all UVa
undergraduate and graduate students
First Prize: $300, plus an $895 Rare Book School Scholarship
Second Prize: $150
Honorable Mention: $75
plus over $600 in gift certificates offered by local booksellers
The Rules
- The contest is open to all UVa undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.
- Collections that have won a prize in this contest in a previous year may not be submitted again in a subsequent year; but former winners are welcome to submit other collections in subsequent contests.
- The collection must be owned and collected by the contestant.
- Judges consider collections on the basis of coherence of focus, method of collecting, progress made in creating the collection, and the quality of the explanation of the collection's focus. Where appropriate, the quality of the description of the books, that is, of the physical characteristics such as binding, cover decoration, and illustrations and bibliographical features such as format, printing and publication details, are taken into consideration. Collections are not judged on dollar value or size. Recent winning collections in the UVa contest have focused on physics textbooks, Victorian serial fiction, children's series books such as Hardy Boys books, eighteenth-century English literature, central African literature, flip-books, Arthurian legend, graphic novels, and Winston Churchill.
- Contestants should submit the following information about themselves:
Name
Street or postal address
Telephone number
Email address
UVa school and (if relevant) class
A list of books organized by author, subject, or some other principle appropriate to the collection. See below for advice about the form of the essay and list.
- Entries should be sent by 16 February 2010 via U.S. or messenger mail to Mrs. Anne Ribble, Executive Secretary, Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia, PO Box 400152, Alderman Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904.
- The winners' names will be publicly announced and prizes awarded at the annual meeting of the Society on Friday, 19 March 2010.
- The first place winner is eligible for the National Book Collecting Championship, which carries a top prize of $2,500.
The Essay
The essay might answer some of the following questions: how did you start What are your most interesting books, and why? How do you intend to develop your collection in the future? What titles does the collection most need?
The List
The list of books must be organized according to some logical principle: most probably, by author or by subject. Each book listed should include at least the following information: author, title, date, place, publisher, format (e.g., hardback or paper), and an indication of condition.
Questions?
Address specific questions about the contest to Mrs. Anne Ribble at ar3g@virginia.edu. The following books may be useful in answering questions about book collecting:
- John Carter. ABC for Book Collectors. 7th ed. revised by Nicolas Barker. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books, 1995.
- Jean Peters, ed. Book Collecting: A Modern Guide. New York: R. R. Bowker Co., 1978.
