47th annual Snyder Book Collecting Contest at KU seeks student entrants

LAWRENCE -- The University of Kansas Libraries are accepting entries for the 47th annual Snyder Book Collecting Contest. All KU students are eligible to enter. First place, second place and two honorable mention awards will be made in both undergraduate and graduate divisions.

This year's contest features $2,800 in total prizes through monies generated by the Snyder Book Collecting Contest fund with the KU Endowment Association and merchandise gift certificates provided by Oread Books in the Kansas Union. Elizabeth M. Snyder of Kansas City, Mo., is the contest benefactor. This year's contest judges will include five former contest prize winners.

The contest entry deadline is 5 p.m. Monday, March 31.

The 2003 Snyder Book Collecting Contest awards program and reception will be at 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, at Oread Books. Winning collections then will be exhibited on Level 2 of the Kansas Union between Oread Books and the KU Bookstore.

Visit the contest Web site for contest rules and complete details: spencer.lib.ku.edu/snyder/2003/, or contact Angela Rathmel, (785) 864-8834 or aroads@ku.edu, or Sarah Goodwin Thiel, (785) 864-2299 or sgthiel@ku.edu.

The 2002 Snyder Book Collecting Contest attracted 26 entries -- the most since the mid-1960s. The winning graduate collection by Resha Cardone, doctoral student in Spanish from Covelo, Calif., featured clandestine works published by Chile's artisan presses during the reign of General Augusto Pinochet. The winning undergraduate collection by Jeremy Engels -- then a Wichita senior in philosophy and communication studies and in sociology; Engels is the son of Mr. and Mrs. David Engels, Wichita, and is a graduate of Wichita High School Northwest -- featured materials on American pragmatism and included works by writers ranging from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Cornel West. Both winning collection essays are accessible at the contest Web site.