The winners for the Preuss School’s annual bookmark contest for middle school are Brianna Escalera Balanzar (3rd), Sophia Guzman (2nd), and the first place winner is Aiden Ho. The winners for high school are Di Ho and Andrea Isabella Sanchez Vargas (3rd), Vianeth Montano (2nd), and first place winner is Thi Luong.
The librarians presented this opportunity for all interested middle and high school students to promote literacy and creativity by holding their annual bookmark contest. The winners of this contest will have their bookmarks published into actual bookmarks for students to use and will also be displayed at Geisel Library as part of their celebration of World Bookmark Day on February 25, 2025.
Students this year were expected to draw their favorite DC or Marvel character starting on January 13th and have them turned in on January 24th. Students, faculty, and staff will be able to vote on a bookmark that they prefer between Monday, January 26th through Friday, January 31st.
“The bookmark contest has been happening for at least 20 years…We host the bookmark contest to promote reading to our students,” said Ms. Nance, one of the librarians who puts the event together.
In order to turn in a bookmark students had to follow certain guidelines. Students received a blank-sheet of paper from the library on Friday, January 10th. On January 24th, students turned in the bookmarks with their first and last name with their advisory teacher’s name to be eligible for voting.
“Ms. Gonzalez and I chose the topic each year and we just decided we had not ever had this as a theme before. We have had favorite heroes and villains, which some students chose a Marvel or DC character, but we have never had just Marvel or DC characters,” said Ms. Nance.
This year, the winners were chosen from all the bookmark contestants instead of being broken into middle and high school.
“All winners will receive a book of their choice, a certificate for participation and their bookmark will be published for all to enjoy,” Ms. Nance explained.
This year a total of 146 bookmarks were turned in and available to vote. Middle school had a total of sixty-nine bookmarks turned in and high school had eight more entries with their bookmark count at seventy-seven.
The librarians find it enjoyable to see how lots of the students love to have a bookmark created by someone they know. They find this bookmark contest a success and are very pleased with how it turned out and how many students participate every year.
“I really liked drawing a bookmark for this contest because the theme was very interesting and something that I was willing to draw,” said Tala Durubeh (‘28), a student who entered the contest.
Brianna Morales (‘28), one of the many students who voted, said, “It was good (the bookmarks), there were so many designs to choose from and pretty that it was hard to choose one.”
Another contest that is very similar to the Bookmark Contest is the Book Jacket Contest. This contest was for students to learn about banned books in the US and find out why they are banned. It was a very similar process to the Bookmark contest as students, faculty, and staff had the opportunity to vote on which book jacket they liked the best.
Ms. Nance explains “We figured since the library’s role is to promote reading and books, that the contest would fit nicely in the library. We now host a contest in the fall semester (Mini Banned Book Jacket) and the spring semester (Bookmark contest).”
“I can not wait to see the winners of this contest and hopefully I can win too,” said Durubeh (‘28).
