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Duke Student Chooses Gothic Bookshop as Venue for Contest Prize

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Winner of the national essay contest Adeyemi "Yemi" Adewuyi

When freshman Adeyemi Adewuyi came to Duke this fall, he knew where he wanted to buy his books.

Adeyemi, or Yemi as he likes to be called, won a $250 gift card in a national essay contest and chose to use it at Duke's Gothic Bookshop.

The contest, sponsored by bestselling author James Patterson, awarded $1000 gift certificates to first-place winners, $500 certificates to second-place winners, and $250 certificates to third-place winners to use at an IndieBound-affiliated independent bookstore. The winners were given a list of independent bookstores and allowed to pick the store of their choice.

As part of the contest, Yemi wrote an essay on how his favorite book, Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, inspired him to study law in the future. In his essay, Yemi highlights the strained relationship between morality and law and the consequences of punishing the innocent.

"I first read the book in the 9th grade. It was assigned reading, and I ended up reading it and loving it," Yemi said. "I found it interesting how the plot showed that justice isn't black and white, that there is a grey area. There are different interpretations as you look as people's motivations and whether you go into civil or criminal law, you have to look at things from different perspectives."

Kathy World, operations manager at the Gothic Bookshop, says she was thrilled that Yemi chose the store as the independent bookshop of his choice.

"I think James Patterson and The American Booksellers Association deserve a great deal of thanks for sponsoring this great program and kudos to Yemi for being a prizewinner," World wrote in an e-mail.

An Angier B. Duke scholar, Yemi graduated from Plano East Senior High School in Murphy, Texas, last spring. He is currently interested in studying environmental law, focusing on the ethics of human interaction with the environment. At Duke, Yemi plans to choose a field of study in the social sciences and is considering a major in environment science and policy, public policy, or political science.