A standing room only crowd of more than 150 children, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and neighbors packed into the Fair Lawn library’s meeting room Sunday for the annual Bookmark Contest award ceremony.

The contest, a library staple for the past decade, recognizes the artistic creations of Fair Lawn students in kindergarten through fifth grade who are tasked with designing their own original bookmarks. The selected winners – one from each grade at each of Fair Lawn’s six elementary schools – receive a prize (usually an age appropriate book) and have their bookmarks reproduced and made available for use by library patrons.

Administrative secretary Karen Horton, who helped organize this year’s contest, said that for some of the children, the award is akin to winning an Oscar.

“Yes, exactly,” agreed library director Tim Murphy, echoing Horton’s comparison. “When the kids come up, their eyes are like saucers. They’re so excited.” 

Murphy, who was initially skeptical of the bookmark contest concept, said he’s been amazed over the years by both the size of the turnout and the enthusiasm of the winners and their families, who sometimes videotape the ceremony and even present the winners with flowers.

Quite possibly the biggest perk for the young winners, Horton said, is getting to see their creations used by library patrons.

“The kids love seeing that,” Horton said. “Some of them will come, a couple of days later, and their bookmarks will be up on the circ desk for grabs. And oh, are they thrilled to see that their bookmark got selected. They just feel so special.”

If you'd like to grab a winning bookmark for personal use or distribution to friends and family, it's best to act quickly. Horton said the bookmarks usually last just a few weeks to a month before they're all scooped up.

Below is a list of this year’s 36 bookmark contest winners chosen from more than 350 entries:

Forrest

Lyncrest

Milnes

Radburn

Warren Point

Westmoreland