Applications for the 2023 Anthony Davis Book Prize are now open!
By Sarah S Pipkin, on 19 April 2023
The Anthony Davis Book Prize is open to any student studying at a London-based university who has a coherent collection of printed and/or manuscript material. The winner will receive £600 as well as an allowance of £300 to purchase an item for UCL Special Collections and the opportunity to give a talk on their collection as part of the UCL Special Collections events programme.
![collection of books & pamphlets](https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-collections/files/2022/07/2022-winner-Hannah-SWAN-1024x768.jpg)
Items from the collection of 2022 winner Hannah Swan
The collection should be based around a common theme which has been deliberately assembled and that the collector intends to continue growing. However, the items in the collection do not have to be valuable or historically important – anyone who collects items from comic books, to postcards, to modern publications is welcome to apply!
![](https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-collections/files/2021/06/DHaynescollection-1024x1024.jpg)
Books from Daniel Haynes’ collection, the 2021 winner
The prize is intended to encourage the collecting of books, printed and manuscript materials by students by recognising a collection formed by a London student at an early stage in their collecting career. All current undergraduates and postgraduates studying for a degree at a London-based University, both part-time and full-time, are eligible to enter for the prize.
![Photo of books in the collection 'Books that Built a Zoo'](https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-collections/files/2021/03/Durrell-collection-1024x768.jpeg)
Books from Alexandra Plane’s 2020 winning collection
For more information:
To apply or to learn more about the eligibility criteria:
For advice on what a collection can look like:
- How to be a student book collector (and apply for the Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize)
- Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize: Collecting with Intention
Conversations with previous winners and finalists:
- Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize: Books that built a zoo
- Bound to read: collecting Victorian texts in 20th-century bindings from Bookish: The Birkbeck Library Blog
- Q&A with Erick Jackaman, 2021 Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize Runner Up
- Florilegium: gathering the language of flowers from Bookish: The Birkbeck Library Blog
Announcements of previous winners:
- Results announced for Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize 2020
- Announcing the winners of the 2021 Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize
- Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize 2022: results announced
Keep an eye out for future blog posts on what book collecting can look like!
We look forward to seeing your book collection!
![shelf of books](https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-collections/files/2022/07/2022-finalist-Jessie-Maier-1024x768.jpeg)
Items from 2022 finalist Jessie Maier’s collection ‘