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James David Forbes collecting prize

**Entries for 2026 are now closed**

Enter the James David Forbes collecting prize to be in with a chance of winning £500. 

We want to encourage University of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø students to build their own collection of printed, manuscript, or photographic material, so each year University Collections runs a competition to award £500 to the student with the best collection.

The prize is offered in honour of James David Forbes (1809-1868), the eminent scientist and Principal of the United College of St Salvator and St Leonard at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, whose library was presented to the University in 1929.

If you are studying at the University, we invite you to enter the competition and tell us about your collection.

For questions about the prize, please email Briony Harding at bla1@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Entry guidelines

The collection must be owned by you, put together by you, and at its core have physical material with writing on it. For example, it may consist of:

  • books
  • magazines
  • postcards
  • sheet music
  • record sleeves
  • knitting patterns
  • printed ephemera (advertisements, programmes, menus, or similar)
  • manuscripts
  • photographic material
  • any combination of the above, brought together under a common theme.

Audiovisual material may be part of the collection, but it must support the core collection, and not form the basis of it. The age, number of items, or monetary value are not important - we want to know what excites you about the items you have collected.

When and how to enter

To submit your entry, complete and attach the following by midnight on Sunday 29 March 2026:

1. An essay of between 1,000 and 2,500 words:

  • telling us why and how your collection was assembled
  • explaining what makes your collection interesting
  • giving a list of five items that you would like to add to your collection, explaining how they would improve it.

2. An annotated bibliography of your items, which could include comments on:

  • Condition
  • Provenance
  • Variant edition (where relevant)
  • Illustration

You may include photographs of your collection, but this is optional.

Read the rules to enter the James David Forbes collecting prize before submitting your entry.

The final award will be based on the interest, originality, thoughtfulness, and creativity of the collection, and the persistence of the collector. 

Shortlisted entrants will be invited to the meet the judges to talk about their collection. This will be followed by an awards ceremony at which the winner will be announced. The date currently scheduled for this event is Friday 1st May 2026. Shortlisted entrants will be expected to attend in person.

The prize

  • £500 to spend on building your collection
  • £250 to spend on an item for University Collections
  • All entrants aged between 18-30 who are resident in the UK will be eligible to enter the 's National Book Collecting Prize. See for details of the 2025 prize

Collections of former winners

If you are looking for inspiration, read about the collections of our former winners:

  • 2025: Kate Oneal, ‘’
  • 2024: Benjamin Parris, ''
  • 2023: James Erickson, ‘’
  • 2022: Lakshmi Thiagarajan, ‘’
  • 2021: Paul Thompson, ‘’
  • 2019: Antares Wells, ‘’
  • 2018: Parker Gordon, ‘’
  • 2017: Arthur der Weduwen, ‘’
  • 2016: Jenny Elwin, ‘’
  • 2015: Dawn Hollis, ‘’