And the 2014 #UWBookMadness Champion Is …
… Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling! 300 points for Gryffindor!
No, really, maybe even more points for the 3rd novel in the Harry Potter series. In the final round, Prisoner of Azkaban clobbered A Game of Thrones with 67% of the votes. In fact, Harry Potter was never threatened: for all 6 rounds of Book Madness, Prisoner of Azkaban won with 87%, 84%, 76%, 82%, 60% and 67% of the votes in its round!
Looks like the UW–Madison campus is quite a solid Harry Potter fan.
#UWBookMadness by the numbers
- Closest Vote: In Round 1, The Scarlet Letter beat Beloved by 6 votes.
- Biggest whomping willow: Prisoner of Azkaban over The Satanic Verses in the first round, 87%-13%
- Total votes cast: 2,307
- Last year’s winner was Lord of the Rings over Pride and Prejudice, 52% to 48% (a much closer score!)
Bracket Challenge
And as for the winner of the bracket challenge? Elizabeth Huffman, graduate student, wins that title, with a final score of 176 out of a possible 192 points. Elizabeth wins a gift card to the University Bookstore! She also wins pride in knowing that not only is she the UW–Madison and public community winner, but Elizabeth also beat the top library staff bracket. (Brianne M. just earned kudos among her colleagues)
Huffman enlightened us with her winning strategy: “I filled out my bracket by starting with books that I knew and loved, and then thought about the impact that media and entertainment might have on some of the books. I tried not to look at the book reviews until the very end when deciding between books I may not have read.” Wise moves!
When asked how she chose the champion in her bracket, Huffman said,”I thought Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban would win since it represents a beloved series for many in our generation. Harry Potter has a lot of sentimental value for me; my family lived outside of Edinburgh for a semester while J.K. Rowling was still working on the series, and we loved to daydream about what in our surroundings might have inspired a part of her stories.” (Pretty sure you can count all of us jealous now.)
What about the other brackets?
- Number of brackets submitted: 275
- Number of brackets that had Harry Potter picked to win it all: 86
- Number that had A Game of Thrones and Harry Potter in the final: 87
- Number that had all Final Four correct: 24
- Number that had Elite Eight correct: 0 as in z-e-r-o! (9 brackets had 7 correct)
Want more?
- Get a copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban from the libraries. We have the books and the DVDs!
- Give A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin another chance; check out a copy!
Now if only Eddard Stark had Hermione’s Time-Turner …
