April 02, 2015

Edible Books Festival winners announced

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill. – A watermelon grill complete with “charcoal” and a charred chicken “mockingbird” took Best in Show honors at the 2015 Edible Books Festival held April 1 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Morris Library. 

Savannah Krieg, a junior theater major from Salem, took home the grand prize, an Amazon Kindle eReader and other goodies, for her rendition of “To Grill (Kill) a Mockingbird.” She also received the most votes from the public to earn the People’s Choice award. 

Julie Driebergen, a senior geology major from Tinley Park, won the “Best Saluki Submission” award with “Bizarre and Nonsense,” a little graham cracker and candy bookstore, complete with graham cracker books. 

Other prize winners from the 2015 festival included: 

  • Best book structure -- Liam Wrenn, a young community member from Carbondale who has submitted a winning entry two years in a row, for “The Hardy Boys.”
  • Punniest -- Christina Heady, Library Affairs lecturer from Cape Coral, Fla., for “Ham-let.”
  • Least edible -- Steven Sawyer, library operations associate for Library Affairs from Marion, for “Strangers on a Grain (Train)”
  • Most edible -- Sara Saito, a professional media and media management master’s student from Rolling Meadows, for “Jurassic Pork (Park).” 

“It was a tough competition with lots of ‘punny’ and delicious entries,” Sarah Prindle, humanities and fine arts librarian and festival organizer, said. “We had more than 90 votes for People’s Choice.”

Photos and additional details from the fifth annual Edible Books Festival are online at www.lib.siu.edu/edible-book-festival.