Arizona State University

For the first time ever, more undergraduate students than graduate students participated in the University Libraries’ Student Book Collecting Contest, according to Sharon Kozlo, administrative assistant at University Libraries.

“We’ve always tried to reach out to the undergraduates, and it looks like we have succeeded,” said Kozlo as she announced the contest’s 2008 winners.

This year, four graduate students and five undergraduate students were given awards for their collections. The winners received their cash prizes at a reception April 10 at the University Club on ASU’s Tempe campus.

In addition to their cash prizes, the first-place winners in each category will be eligible to compete in the Fine Books & Collections’ Collegiate Book-Collecting Championship.

The winners are:

Graduate students

Best collection

• First place ($600) – Linguistics major Victor Parra-Guinaldo, who entered his collection on the evolution of the English language.

• Second place ($300) – Sean J. Bliznik, a theater for youth major, for his collection tracing the history of musical theater on Broadway.

• Third place ($200) – Anthropology major Cathryn M. Meegan, who entered her collection on early American political history and the lives of presidents.

• Honorable mention ($100) – Sarah Dean, an American literature major, for her collection on African-American, Jewish-American and Native American literature.

Undergraduate students

Best collection

• First place ($600) – Rhonda Singer, an education major with a minor in American Indian Studies, who entered her collection of books written about, or by, Native Americans and their cultures.

• Second place ($300) – Creative writing major Jenny Brundage, who entered her collection of humorous young adult fiction.

• Third place ($200) – Preston Gardner, an English literature major, who entered his collection of contemporary Latin-American writers.

• Honorable mention ($100) – Psychology major Desha Ervin, who entered her collection of novels by Stephen King.

Graduate students

Best essay

• First place ($250) – Graduate student Bliznik’s ability to trace the history of musical theater on Broadway won him top prize in his category.
Undergraduate students

Best essay

• First place ($250) – Undergraduate Russian major Natalia Anker-Lagos took first place for her collection of books that focus on Tatar language politics and the language’s re-emergence since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

For more information about the students and their collections, visit the Web site www.asu.edu/lib/library/bookcontest and click on “Winning Collections – 2008 Winners.”