University students who have a passion for collecting books can compete for prizes of $1,000 and $500 by entering the 19th Annual Neureuther Student Book Collection Essay Competition.
Sponsored by University Libraries, the Neureuther Competition is designed to encourage students to read for enjoyment and to develop personal libraries or book collections throughout their lives. For the competition, a collection can be on any subject and should reflect the owner’s intellectual or personal interests.
The event is actually two competitions: one for graduate students and one for undergraduates, with a first prize of $1,000 and a second prize of $500 awarded at each level.
Applicants must be current full-time students at the University and must supply:
• a completed entry form;
• a 2-4-page essay about the collection;
• a bibliography listing the books in the collection; and
• 3-5 books from the entrant’s collection.
Entry forms, past winning essays, and details about how to enter are available online at library.wustl.edu/collections/neureuther.html.
Students should deliver their materials to the Department of Special Collections on the main level of Olin Library, weekdays from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. through April 3.
Judges will consider the collection’s scope, thematic unity, personal value to the collector and other factors.
Winners will be announced and awards presented in late April.
The Neureuther Competition is made possible by the financial contributions of Carl Neureuther, a 1940 WUSTL graduate.
New this year, both first-place winners of the Neureuther Competition will be eligible to enter the Fine Books & Collections 2006 Collegiate Book-Collecting Championship.
Winners of three dozen university-sponsored book-collecting competitions will compete for prizes totaling nearly $6,000, airfare and accommodations to attend the awards ceremony at the Grolier Club in New York, and a one-year membership in the club for the first-place winner.
For more information, contact Ida McCall at 935-6569 or icmccall@wustl.edu.