Western Illinois University (WIU) Interdisciplinary English and Arts Society (IDEAS) will host the sixth annual GET LIT Writing and Art Contest from 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Thursday, April 4, on the Quad Cities campus in Moline.
The contest will be held in the QC Complex C Atrium. Last year, more than 60 local area high school students and teachers from six Quad Cities area high schools attended.
“GET LIT provides a space for high school students to see their art’s impact on their peers and community,” IDEAS President and Senior English major Abbey Jones said in a news release.
“Some of these students leave with newfound confidence and for the first time consider that this could be their degree and career. Others leave with a passion for the craft that will stay with them their entire lives.”
Area students will have the opportunity to read poems and short stories at an open mic and display their paintings, sculptures and other visual work. Students can ask questions about college life to a panel of current students.
“What keeps me, the IDEAS officers and everyone else doing this is pretty simple,” said English Professor Everett Hamner, IDEAS faculty advisor. “We see how much it means to many of these students. Many high schoolers have opportunities to demonstrate passion and skill in athletics and fine arts, which we love too. But wordsmiths and image shapers can lack such outlets, and it’s a privilege to offer one.”
Contest offers opportunities
Along with its literature and art focuses, the event aims to be one more opportunity for high school students to discover new interests. It also provides the chance to visit college classes in progress. That include courses in art history and communication as well as a tour demonstration in QC campus engineering labs.
The contest features three formal categories: poems; short stories and longer written compositions, including screenplays, and images, including painting, graphic design and photography. In addition, student submissions will be able to compete in three thematic categories. They include Gender and Sexuality, Race and Class. And a new category this year is Possible Tomorrows. It invites students to imagine near-term futures, whether for themselves, their families or communities, the QC region or more global contexts.
Prizes will be awarded to three students in all of the six categories for a total of 18 awards. Most often, first-place winners receive $50 gift cards, second place receive $40 gift cards, and third place receive $30 gift cards.
Previous high school participants have included students from Bettendorf, Maquoketa, Moline, North Scott, United Township, Orion, Rock Island and Riverdale. WIU-QC Student Government Association and the Office of Student Activities will provide a light breakfast and full lunch to all attendees.
The deadline to submit writing and art projects is 11:59 p.m., Thursday, March 28. For more information and to submit, visit getlitwriting.wixsite.com/getlit. Questions? Email IDEAS at [email protected] or Hamner at [email protected].
