Harvard Library is proud to announce the 2025 winners of our two prizes for student collecting, the Undergraduate Book Collecting Prize and the Philip Hofer Prize for Collecting Books or Art. The Hofer Prize is open to all undergraduate and graduate students and welcomes collections of books or art; the Undergraduate Book Collecting Prize is especially for undergraduates and focuses on books and other print materials. These prize competitions are designed to recognize and encourage collecting by students; they provide an opportunity for students to reflect on the intellectual principles and personal connections that guide and shape their collecting choices.
The Visiting Committee Prize for Undergraduate Book Collecting
First Prize: Camryn Neches, ‘27
“Atomic Comics: How Comic Books Reflect Atomic Anxieties”
Camryn Neches’s collection grew out of her interest in the intersection of medicine, physics, history, and comic books. It explores the duality of radiation as savior and as destroyer through the lens of the atomic origin stories in comic books. Textbooks on atomic physics and books related to the Manhattan Project contextualize comic books “focused on heroes with a history of radiation exposure, or, in the case of Iron Man, weapons manufacturing.” Future acquisitions might include first-person accounts from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Second Prize: Oscar K., ‘24
“The Magic and Mutability of Contemporary Trans & Queer Memoirs”
Oscar K collects books by trans and queer authors “unapologetically telling the story of their life.” His collection ranges across an array of genres, and itself challenges the genre boundaries of memoir: “If you walked into Barnes & Noble, you might see some of these books categorized as Fiction. But in my opinion, a memoir doesn’t have to be 100% true, factwise, to be true emotionally…I see this collection of memoirs as not just an assemblage, but a repository of knowledge about gender, sexuality, race, and identity writ large.”
The collection is also a record of places: of the libraries and bookstores that facilitate the sharing of these stories. As Oscar writes, “in the political climate of 2025, as the current presidential administration erases mentions of trans and queer communities from federal records and attempts to eradicate us from public and private life, curating and preserving the records and writings of trans and queer artists, activists, and ordinary people is a form of resistance and political protest.”
Third Prize: Gracia Perala, ‘25
“Things That Go Bump In The Night: Four Centuries of Spine-tingling Gothic Literature”
Gracia Perala’s collection is her personal curation of a familiar and plentiful genre - monster stories. She used Goodreads to develop a wishlist and tries to check off at least one title with every trip to the bookstore, remarking “what could be more Gothic than a suspenseful chase scene?” Gothic literature was the topic of Gracia’s senior thesis, and the collection has spilled over into other areas of her life as well: “I proudly pick up spooky knickknacks, novelties, posters, and decor; visit Salem; write my own gothic stories; and watch too many scary movies right before bed.”
Philip Hofer Prize for Collecting Books or Art
First Prize: Duncan Steele '25 (GSD, Master of Architecture II)
"Paper Architecture: My Life in Small Presses"
Duncan collects zines, comix, pamphlets, posters, magazines, and artists’ books “related to experimental art and architecture publishing.” The collection traces Duncan’s own shifting artistic interests as well as the independent print communities with which he has interacted as a part-time bookseller, architecture student, teacher, academic, and artist. Since 2013, Duncan has collected “approximately 12 posters and original drawings, 40 monographs and artist’s books, and over 100 zines, comix, pamphlets, magazines, and exhibition brochures.”
Duncan’s collection is divided in groups representing the early years of collecting, his time at architecture school, and the present. From prioritizing the “hyperlocal” and small editions with “a certain DIY ethos” to exploring more complex print techniques and “the intersections of architects working in small press and book artists working on architectural and spatial topics,” Duncan’s collection has grown into an expansive library of architectural ephemera and radical independent print culture.
Honorable Mention: Livingston Zug '26 (Harvard College, English and Classics)
"The Modern Library of Ancient Greece: Reception and Reimagination"
Livingston collects books that “reevaluate, interrogate, and rephrase aspects of the Classics for the present day.” Livingston’s collection comprises roughly sixty books, ranging from critical studies on Roman political cohesion to contemporary retellings of classical myths. Divided among scholarly works, philosophical texts, and novels, the collection spans a wide range of scholarly perspectives and audience. Livingston derives “so much joy and consolation” from the collection that many of the books are reread in rotation every few years, filled with “poetic rephrasings and commentaries in the margins,” remaining a permanent fixture of their Harvard dorm room.