Competition to award top book collections
By Michael Howerton
Once a year at UCLA, students are rewarded for a task they
usually quietly suffer under indifferent stares — carrying their
books to the library.
Great attention and $1,300 in prizes will be showered upon those
students who present the best private book collections to the
judges in the 47th Annual Robert B. and Blanche Campbell Student
Book Collection Competition on April 26.
"The judges are looking for collections that are focused on a
particular subject," said Lorelyn Lewis, chair of the Campbell
Competition Committee. "The people who win have a coherent
collection and display a passion for what their collection means to
them."
First place for the graduate and undergraduate collection is a
prize of $300 each. Second prize for each category awards $150,
while the one honorable mention awarded is worth $100. In addition,
the best children’s book collection submitted is awarded $300.
The last day to submit an application and bibliography of a
collection for the contest is Wednesday, April 12. The finalists
will then bring their collections into the University Research
Library for final judging and award presentation on April 26.
Applications can be obtained at the reference desk of any campus
library.
In the past, the prizes have been awarded to book collections on
such varied topics as Anglo and African-American fiddling, the
culture of wine, mathematical puzzles and diversions, food as a
social indicator, robots in science fiction and the letters and
loves of Oscar Wilde.
The collections will be displayed in the URL conference room
from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. on the day of the competition, after which
the winning collections will continue to be displayed for the next
month.