Stop by M-Level to see selections from this year’s winning entries from the Betty and Edgar Sweren Student Book Collecting Contest.
Open to all undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in a degree program at the university, the contest is sponsored each year by the Friends of the Johns Hopkins University Libraries and was endowed last year through the generosity of long-time Friends Betty and Edgar Sweren.
Participants must write an essay describing how and why the collection was assembled and submit an annotated bibliography of up to 50 titles. Entrants also submit a wish list of up to 10 titles to reflect future collection goals and areas of interest. Cash prizes are awarded to six students in all, honoring first place, second place, and an honorable mention in separate graduate and undergraduate categories.
First place and $1000 prizes went to sophomore Shrivats Iyer and fourth-year graduate student Sarah Richardson. Iyer, a biomedical engineering major from Dubai, won for his collection More than Saffron and Incense: Modern Indian and English Literature. Richardson, who is studying human genetics at the School of Medicine, was recognized for Voices from Conflict: Oral Histories from 20th Century Wars.
See the Sheridan Libraries news release for additional contest information and the full list of this year’s winners.