2026 Awardees

Congratulations to the 2026 Book Collecting Contest Awardees:

1. Davin Faris: Time and Time Again
2. Robert LeBeau III: The Weird - To the Edge of Normal and Back
3. Mary Bednar: Theory and Practice

Items from these collections are on view in the Greenfield Library’s Nutt Room until the end of the Spring Semester.

The 2027 contest will open for entries in early January 2027.

Contest Guidelines

A contest entry consists of a brief essay that explains the personal significance of your collection, alongside an annotated bibliography of at least ten books from the collection. This should be uploaded on the entry form as a single PDF document with two separate sections.

Current SJCA students, faculty, and staff are eligible to enter, as well as faculty & staff spouses / partners.

Each entrant is limited to a single submission which should include 10 or more books.

All items in the collection must be owned and collected by the entrant.

Collections may contain hardbacks and paperbacks.

Collections must be based on a unifying principle that has personal significance to you. This personal significance should be explained in the brief bibliographic essay. The theme of your collection can be broad or narrow. Some examples include:

• books on a particular topic,
• signed books,
• books with elaborate bindings,
• books in a specific genre,
• books with a particular purpose - such as travel books or cookbooks,
• books for a specific audience such as children’s books,
• illustrated books connected by a theme, audience, or artist
• books published by a specific press
• books written by a particular author
• books received from a particular person.

This should not be considered an exhaustive or limiting list. You should enter any collection unified by a theme that can be explained in the brief essay.

Collections do not need to consist of rare materials and will not be judged on dollar value or size. Submissions will be judged blind by a committee and will be judged on the creativity and thoughtfulness in developing the collection, cohesion of the collection, and the significance of the collection to the owner, as communicated through the essay and bibliography.

Awardees will be required to loan at least 10 books of their choice to the Greenfield Library for the Book Collecting Contest exhibit from February to May, and to permit their photograph to be displayed alongside the books, annotations, and essay.

Prizes

There are monetary prizes for the entries that place first and second in the contest, which will be awarded at a reception during the time that the exhibit is up, featuring readings from works in the winning collections. In addition, honorees are encouraged to enter the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest.

Questions

Please email greenfield.library(at)sjc.edu for more details or with questions. We look forward to reviewing your entries.