The Book Arts Press's summer 1999 exhibition is being presented in cooperation with the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation at Monticello. The curator of the exhibition is Elliot Tally '99. In honor of the show's opening, there will be a Jefferson paper airplane flying contest on the Lawn in front of the Rotunda on Tuesday, 11 May 1999, from 3 - 5 pm.

All those with a current UVa affiliation (students, staff, and faculty and their immediate families) are eligible to enter. Each paper airplane must be made from a single 8.5" x 11" sheet of photocopy-weight paper. Preprinted sheets containing instructions for making an unusually flightworthy paper plane may be downloaded here:

These files, which are in PDF format, require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to read.

• Instructions
• Plane Template

Paper copies of the instruction sheet are available at the Book Arts Press office (114 Alderman Library, open 9-5 pm, Monday - Friday and at other times when the door is open). Copies of these preprinted sheets will be also available from 3 pm onwards on May 11th at the contest site on the Lawn in front of the Rotunda. Contestants may use their own folding design if they think they can come up with a better one than ours. Each plane flown may be balanced with up to four standard office staples and/or with up to two standard size paperclips and/or with up to two inches of self-adhesive cellophane tape; no other weights may be used, and no other materials of any kind. The judges reserve the right to disqualify any planes which in their opinion do not meet the spirit or the letter of these rules.

Twenty $5 prizes will be awarded:

The contest will begin with 20 open rounds. For each open round, a cash prize of $5 will be awarded on the spot to the contestant whose plane flies the longest distance in feet from a fixed starting point. A plane that wins any of the open rounds may not be flown again in any of the other open rounds, though winning contestants are welcome to enter other open rounds with new planes.

Three $15 Grand Prizes will be awarded:

The contest will end with three run-off rounds, open only to those contestants who have won one of the 20 open rounds. For each run-off round, a cash prize of $15 will be awarded on the spot to the contestant whose plane flies the longest distance in feet from a fixed starting point. The winner of the first and second run-off rounds may participate again in the later round(s), using the same plane.

The contest schedule is as follows: 3 - 4 pm: warmup and practice. 4 pm: open rounds begin. 4:45 pm: run-off rounds begin. The Dome Room of the Rotunda will be open until 7 pm on Tuesday 11 May for those who wish to see the exhibition after watching the Jefferson paper airplane contest.