Judging Procedure & Criteria

Judges: The panel of judges shall include no more than five persons drawn from the ABAA, the Fellowship of Bibliographic Societies (FABS) and from the Library of Congress and shall not have participated in any of the collegiate book-collecting contests held during the 2009-2010 academic year.  Names of judges will be posted here once their participation is confirmed.

Judging Procedure:  A three-person panel drawn from FABS will evaluate all entries and may request additional information from contests and/or contest sponsors.  The top ten (10) entries will be sent to the judges for evaluation and final judging.  Judges may contact contest officials and contestants for further information.  Based on their review of the materials, a short list of candidates will be selected for interviews. 

Judging Criteria: The principal criteria will be the intelligence and originality of the collection and the potential of the entrant to evolve the collection and develop new collections.  The contestant’s understanding of the collection’s subject and its bibliography as well as the creativity of approach are the primary criteria. Age, rarity and monetary value of the material in a collection are less important than the how well a collection has been conceived and realized.  Contestants should demonstrate knowledge of, and appreciation for, the items in their collection for content and as objects of craft.  Uniqueness of items will be considered independently of market value, especially if the contestant can show the collection helps to preserve material that may otherwise be lost or forgotten.  How intrinsically significant, innovative and interesting the collection will be determinative.

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