The Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA) is delighted to announce the winners of the 2024 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest:
First Prize
Amanda Zhao (Georgetown University) for "War’s Little People". Zhao’s sponsor notes he was particularly impressed with her focus on exploring WWII history with an eye towards the effects of the war civilians and an ultimate the goal of expanding her own knowledge and writing a novel.
Second Prize
Dennis Schäfer (Princeton University) for "Charting the Visual Universes of E.T.A. Hoffmann Illustrators". Shäfer’s interest in Hoffman was initially academic in nature, but this soon blossomed into a passion after he received a beautifully illustrated edition of Hoffmann’s The Golden Pot upon joining the E.T.A.-Hoffmann-Society.
The awards celebration will be held at the Library of Congress’s Whittall Pavilion on September 13th at 5pm. The ceremony will feature Rebecca Romney, a renowned book dealer, appraiser, and author, as the keynote speaker. All are welcome to attend.
The National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest is jointly administered by the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS), and the Grolier Club, and is supported by the Rare Books and Special Collections Division (the Library of Congress). Noted collector, bibliophile, and philanthropist Susan Jaffe Tane funds the prizes for the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest. The prize is known as The Susan Tane Prize for Student Book Collectors.
Established in 2005 by Fine Books & Collections Magazine to recognize outstanding book collecting efforts by college and university students, the program aims to encourage young collectors to become accomplished bibliophiles. The magazine conducted the annual competition program for three years before turning over leadership to the new collaboration of institutional partners.
Competitions are held at more than three dozen colleges and universities across the United States. Some contests have been conducted for decades, dating back to Swarthmore College's first competition in the 1920s. All college or university prizewinners are encouraged to enter. Student collectors whose institutions do not offer a book collecting contest also may enter.
The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America promotes ethical standards and professionalism in the antiquarian book trade, encourages the collecting and preservation of rare books, and supports education and research. The Fellowship of American Bibliographic Societies was formed in 1993 as a national organization of member book collecting groups.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
Please contact Susan Benne at hq@abaa.org or 212.944.8291 for further information.