For students who have a passion for reading and book collecting, the ASU Libraries annual book-collecting contest is an opportunity to showcase personal collections and win some cash prizes.
“It is always enjoyable to see people’s interests and how they go about it,” said Rosa Gonzalez, the contest’s coordinator. “Let your collection show your passion and your love for books.”
The contest opened this month to all ASU students with a book collection representing a defined field of interest.
Gonzalez said the contest was created to give students the chance to demonstrate their enthusiasm for reading. This is the eighteenth year the Libraries have hosted the student book-collecting contest. About 20 to 30 students enter each year.
Jennifer Duvernay, marketing and outreach officer for ASU Libraries, said students can submit collections to show off their individual appreciation for a genre, whether it’s pulp fiction or history books.
“You are judged both on the collection and an essay so it gives an opportunity for creative writing,” she said. “The real reason I like it is that students can get actual cash prizes.”
Duvernay said students have a fair chance of winning because the contest separates undergraduate student entries from graduate student entries.
First place for best collection receives $600 and first place for best essay receives $300 at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. There are also cash prizes for second and third place finalists.
The contest application is due Feb. 10. Students must assemble an annotated bibliography of the collection along with a “wants list” of additional items they would like to add in the future and an essay summarizing the collection.
Collections may contain up to 50 items, 10 percent of which can be non-book items that support the collection, such as magazines or academic journals.
“It doesn’t really have to be scholarly books … it’s not necessarily just collections of state scholarly tomes,” Duvernay said.
A panel of three judges reviews the collections: a librarian from ASU libraries, an ASU faculty member specializing in history or English and a librarian from a local Valley library.
History and culture senior Mona Granroth won second place last year for her collection “Holmes and Poirot: Murder and Mayhem with Britain’s Most Famous Detectives,” and won first place for best essay in the undergraduate student category, her prize totaling $550.
Granroth started her collection of murder-mystery fiction five years ago.
“I had different editions, different languages that my collection was published in and different illustrations, so being as broad as you can be really helps,” Granroth said.
Granroth is currently studying abroad in Brighton, England. She has been able to expand her collection with several first and second edition Sherlock Holmes copies she has come across during her visit.
Gonzalez said she sees the contest as an opportunity for students to develop their knowledge on subjects they love.
“It is not just a one-time thing but an ongoing adventure for students to enrich their understanding of a topic,” she said.
Reach the reporter at newlin.tillotson@asu.edu Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
