The Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA) is delighted to announce the winners of the 2023 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest:
First Prize
Ishaan Prasad (Harvard College) for "Confessions of a Former Sheep Thief: Ten Years of Exploration in Typography". Prasad first became interested in typography while designing arcade-style games for the iPhone, which led to a desire to understand the principles and reasoning behind typography and design.
Second Prize
Joshua Shelly (Duke University) for "Alte Bücher in Haifa: (Re)building a German Jewish Library in the 21st Century". Shelly came to collecting while working on a dissertation on German Zionist literature and became intrigued by the experiences of “a generation that continued to search for solace in the pages of German literature, even while its members packed their bags and set sail for far-off locales in search of refuge.”
Third Prize
Enrique Vazquez (Yale University) for "Tales of the Midwestern Northwoods". Minnesota native Vazquez grew up exploring the Boundary Water Canoe Area with family; his collection grew as a way to remain connected to the North Woods while being unable to visit.
Essay Award
Nichole Nomura (Stanford University) for "Classroom Editions of Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". Nomura’s collection explores the evolving discourses around the teaching of race, the value of prose written in the vernacular, and perceptions of educators’ obligations to students through the lens of classroom editions of Twain’s novel.
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 supported by the Rare Books and Special Collections Division (the Library of Congress). Prizes are generously funded by Susan Tane.
The awards celebration will be held at the Library of Congress’s Whittall Pavilion on September 22nd at 5pm. All are welcome to attend.