UA Libraries Announce Book Collecting Contest Winners

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. –– Six University of Alabama students who have a passion for books have been named as winners in the UA Libraries’ Book Collecting Contest.

The contest aimed to promote reading and interest in book collecting.

“Since this is the first year for the contest, we didn’t know how students would respond,” said John Sandy, UA librarian and book collecting contest committee chair. “The University Libraries is very pleased by both the number and quality of the entries.”

Contest winners in the undergraduate category are:

• James W. “Billy” McFarland Jr., senior, Tuscaloosa, College of Arts and Sciences, majoring in criminal justice, first place, “Southern Politics”
• Mary Tubbs, senior, Annandale, Va., College of Arts and Sciences, New College, majoring in film history, second place, “The Great Garbo”
• Paul Zachary Williams, senior, Ringgold, Ga., College of Commerce & Business Administration, majoring in entrepreneurship, third place, “A World Unlike Our Own”

Contest winners in the graduate category are:

• John Codega, Smithfield, R.I., College of Education, secondary education, first place, “Soccer Books in America: the Good, the Bad, the Ridiculous”
• Brooke Parks, Tuscaloosa, College of Arts & Sciences, English, Master of Fine Arts in creative writing, second place, “Cinderella”
• David Martin Drab, Iowa City, Iowa, College of Arts & Sciences, chemistry, third place, “Dissident Post-World War II Literature of the 20th Century”

Contests winners receive cash prizes, with $500 for first place, $250 for second place and $100 for third place. In addition, each contest winner receives a complimentary one-year membership in the Alabama Center for the Book and the Rotunda Library Society.

In another round of competition, at the national level, first place winners are eligible to submit their entries to The Fine Books & Collections Collegiate Book-Collecting Championship.

The book collections of all six winners are on display in an exhibit case on the first floor of Gorgas Library through Dec. 1.