Call for applications: Yale College bibliophiles are eligible for cash prizes

Applications are now open for the Adrian Van Sinderen Book Collecting Prizes. Yale College sophomores and seniors are eligible. The senior prize is $1,000, and the sophomore prize is $700. Read more about the prizes and how to apply. Applications are due on Thurs., Feb. 22, by 5 p.m. Winners will be announced in April.

In 1957, Adrian Van Sinderen, B.A. 1910, established these two student prizes to encourage undergraduates to collect books, build personal libraries, and read widely for pleasure and for their education.

Eligible book collections should be characterized by themes. Last year, Bluebelle Carrol won the sophomore prize for the collection titled “A Compendium of the Allusions of Lemony Snicket.” Enrique Vazquez won the senior prize that year for the collection “Tales of the Midwestern Northwoods.”

Student collections may focus on specific subjects (such as history, biography, literature, or science), pertain to the student’s particular interest, share bibliographical features (illustrations, bindings, editions), or have another well-defined nucleus. Collections acquired solely for college coursework are not eligible.

Read more about the past prizewinning collections, including second-prize winners and winners of honorable mentions.

—Deborah Cannarella

Image: Sophomore prize winner, 2021: “Tales of a City: Istanbul, Fiction and Nonfiction,” collected by Seyma Kaya, Jonathan Edwards College