Book Collecting Prizes Based in the United States
A Directory

Book Collecting Prizes Based in the United States

Screenshot 2026-04-24 at 10.35.46
GORDIMER (Nadine). A World of Strangers.

Below is a list of prizes based in the US, some of which are open to international entry. If there are any prizes we have missed out, please let us know by contacting us via [email protected]

Book Collecting Prizes Based in the UK

A.E. Newton Award, Swarthmore College

Applicant Criteria: Undergraduate students at Swarthmore College.
First Prize: $1,500.
Link: A.E. Newton Award

ABAA California Young Book Collectors Prize

Applicant Criteria: 35 and under.
First Prize: $500.
Link: ABBA California Prize

Adrian van Sinderen Prize, Yale University

Applicant Criteria: Sophomore and senior students at Yale University.
First Prize: $1,000.
Link: Adrian van Sinderen Prize

Screenshot 2026-04-24 at 10.27.05
[CATHOLIC CHURCH] Catechismus Romanus, ex decreto Concilij Tridentini. WITH ELABORATE OWNERS' ARMS PAINTED ON VELLUM.

Andrew T. Nadell Prize, Duke Univerity

Applicant Criteria: Undergraduate and postgraduate students at Duke University. This contest is biennial and, as such, closed to submissions until 2027.
First Prize: $1,500
Link: Andrew T. Nadell Prize

Applestein-Sweren Prize, Goucher College

Applicant Criteria: Students at Goucher College
First Prize: $500.
Link: Applestein-Sweren

Bibliographic Society of the University of Virginia Prize

Applicant Criteria: Undergraduate or postgraduate student at the University of Virginia.
First Prize: $1,000 and $1,500 scholarship to Rare Book School.
Link: BSUVA Book Collecting Competition

Carl Neureuther Competition, Washington University in St. Louis

Applicant Criteria: Undergraduate and postgraduate students.
First Prize: $1,500.
Link: Carl Neureuther Competition

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Bookplate for Philip Hofer, by Rudolf Ruzicka after a drawing by Holbein.

Collins Memorial Library Prize, University of Puget Sound

Applicant Criteria: Students at the University of Puget Sound.
First Prize: $500.
Link: Collins Memorial Library Prize

David Ruggles Prize

Applicant Criteria: Entry is open to anyone aged 35 and under, anywhere in the world, who identifies as a person of colour.
First Prize: $1,000.
Link:David Ruggles Prize

Elmer Adler Prize, Princeton University

Applicant Criteria: Undergraduate and postgraduate students at Princeton University.
First Prize: $4,000 (for each division, undergraduate and postgraduate winners)
Link: ELmer Adler Prize

Hill-Shumate Prize, UC Berkeley

Applicant Criteria: Undergraduate students at UC Berkeley
First Prize: $1,500
Link: Hill-Shumate Prize

Honey & Wax Prize

Applicant Criteria: Women under 30.
First Prize: $1,000.
Link: Honey & Wax Prize

Screenshot 2026-04-24 at 10.29.40
TAKEDA (Taichi). Jindai goshu kaiko hanachigai no den [Ancient Traditions of Sericulture].

National College Book Collecting Contest

Applicant Criteria: Each contestant must be a prizewinner of an officially sanctioned American collegiate book collecting contest. The prize must have been awarded in the year leading up to the NCBCC contest.
First Prize: $2,500 and $1,000 for the students university library.
Link: National College Book Collecting Contest

Philip Hofer Prize, Harvard University

Applicant Criteria: Students at Harvard University.
First Prize: $3,000.
Link: Philip Hofer Prize

Seymour Adelman Prize, Bryn Mawr College
Applicant Criteria: Student
First Prize: $500 and a copy of John Carter's ABC for Book Collectors.
Link: Seymore Adelman Prize

Snyder Contest, University of Kansas

Applicant Criteria: Undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Kansas.
First Prize: $500 and a $100 gift card for Jayhawk Ink, a division of the KU Bookstore.
Link: Snyder Contest

T. Kimball Brooker Prize, University of Chicago

Applicant Criteria: Second and fourth-year students at the University of Chicago.
First Prize: $1,000 to up to two second-year students and $2,000 to up to two fourth-year students.
Link: T. Kimball Brooker Prize

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[WODEHOUSE (P.G.)] & BACON (Peggy). Uncle Fred in the Springtime: original dust jacket artwork. With later letter from Peggy Bacon to Charles E. Gould.

The Ticknor Society

Applicant Criteria: No criteria but competition is based in Boston, MA.
First Prize: $1,000 and complimentary membership of The Ticknor Society.
Link: The Ticknor Society Book Collecting Prize

Visiting Committee Prize, Harvard University

Applicant Criteria: Undergraduate student of Harvard University.
First Prize: $3,000.
Link: Visiting Committee Prize

Webster Book Prize, Trinity College

Applicant Criteria: Undergraduate students at Trinity College.
First Prize: $500.
Link: Webster Book Prize

Wreden Prize, Stanford University

Applicant Criteria: Students at Stanford University (competition nominally held biennially).
First Prize: $2,000.
Link: Wreden Prize

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The Honble Robt Monckton, Major General. Governor of New York.

Carl Neureuther Competition, Washington University in St. Louis
Applicant Criteria: Undergraduate and postgraduate students.
First Prize: $1,500.
Link: Carl Neureuther Competition

Adrian van Sinderen Prize, Yale University
Applicant Criteria: Sophomore and senior students at Yale University.
First Prize: $1,000.
Link: Adrian van Sinderen Prize

Honey & Wax Prize
Applicant Criteria: Women under 30.
First Prize: $1,000.
Link: Honey & Wax Prize

ABAA California Young Book Collectors Prize
Applicant Criteria: 35 and under.
First Prize: $500.
Link: ABBA California Prize

Author
Maggs Bros.
15 Apr, 2026

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