The deadline for the 2022 Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize is on the 15th June.
The sixth annual Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize offers a cash award of $1000 for an outstanding book collection built by a woman aged 30 or younger, anywhere in the United States.
The prize was founded in 2017 by Heather O’Donnell of Honey & Wax Booksellers and Rebecca Romney of Type Punch Matrix. They observed that the women who regularly bought books from them were less likely to call themselves “collectors” than the men, even when those women had spent years passionately collecting books, and a quick online image search for “book collector” brought up page after page of older men. By creating a platform that celebrates and shares innovative collections created by young women, and providing a financial incentive to those collectors as they work, they aim to encourage a new generation of women collectors.
The contest is open to women book collectors in the United States, aged 30 or younger. Contestants do not need to be enrolled in a degree program, nor do they require a sponsor.
The winning collection must have been started by the contestant, and all items in the collection must be owned by her.
Past winners include 2017 winner, librarian Jessica Kahan, for Romance Novels of the Jazz Age and Depression Eras. Jessica explained: “Winning the Honey & Wax Prize reaffirmed my confidence in how I viewed myself within the rare book community. It also provided me with a springboard to promote the books I love across multiple platforms.”
2018's winner, graduate student Jessica Jordan, had focused on collecting Leo and Diane Dillon: Six Decades of Unparalleled Illustration. She said: “I’ve always loved books, but even though I was drawn to rare bookstores and events, I wasn’t sure I belonged in that space. . . .Even just applying for the Honey & Wax Prize helped me see myself as a collector.”
Cartoonist Emily Forster was the winner in 2019 for Crimes of Passion: Collecting Fan-made Comics and Doujinshi. She heard about the prize when a friend told her about the contest and encouraged her to enter. Although she considered herself a collector, she hadn't thought that her collection would be of interest to other collectors.
Building a Nation of Little Readers: Twentieth-Century Yiddish Primers and Workbooks for Children is the title of 2020's winning collection from graduate student Miriam Borden. She found that “Book history as a field is very male-dominated, it’s very white, it’s very old-school in many ways, and it was really exciting for me to see a competition that was interested in highlighting the work of younger women who were doing this.”
Last year's winner, astrophysicist Margaret Landis, who collects Maria Mitchell Through Time, reflects: “Having the prize deadline made me sit down and think about the most interesting things I’d found each year, and refine my focus.”
See full requirements and apply here >
The deadline for submissions is June 15, 2022.
This year’s winner will be announced in September.
The 2022 Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize is made possible through the generous sponsorship of Biblio, Bibliopolis, The Caxton Club, Swann Auction Galleries, and Ellen A. Michelson.