1st Place: Thomas Keegan (UNH)
Comments from the Judges: “Undocumented Economy" by Thomas Keegan has a clear point of view concerning the benefits of undocumented workers. We were impressed with the balance between the digital presentation and the quality of the content."
Link: https://youtu.be/B0aobWPhMuI
2nd Place: Hannah Quinn (UNH)
Comments from the Judges: “With “The Pollinator Problem," Hannah Quinn has an interesting topic with a clear point of view. Graphically, the presentation was engaging, and this web page thoroughly drew us in."
Link: https://express.adobe.com/page/23FwqTqQNUP1d/
3rd Place: Paige Rueffert (UNH)
Comments from the Judges: "This personal narrative had a lot of creativity in the video. The story line was clear, and we felt like we went along on this journey of discovery with Paige."
Link: https://media.unh.edu/media/Rueffert+Rich+Media/1_qvi0y1rh
1st Place: Corilie Green (UNH)
Comments from the Judges: “Sabine's Memorabilia,” an interactive piece by Corilie Green from a course in Digital Literature, allows the reader to “sift” literally and figuratively through a box of memories. With each small object in our digital hands, we open a letter, poem, short (short) story, or prose about a life non-linearly linked by the trinkets on the table. Each piece is good enough to stand alone but as a collection it is playful, wandering, and full of music."
Link: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/1524850236156018689
2nd Place: Cameron Mehalek (UNH)
Comments from the Judges: “In the video’s framing scene, Cameron Mehalek remembers sitting in traffic with his mother when he tells her. She starts to cry. He asks her why. “Because, I just want you to be happy.” So begins Cameron’s reflection on how we assume being trans means experiencing the world through a filter of suffering, only. This layered, thoughtful video essay, though, is full of joy and all parts humanity, reminding us we exercise a whole range of emotion, especially those we give most access to."
Link: https://media.unh.edu/media/The+Big+ContestA+Digital+Storytelling+2nd+PlaceA+Cameron+Mehalek/1_9oa2dpal
3rd Place: Keegan Eveland (UNH)
Comments from the Judges: “I really liked Keegan’s piece about “smelling the roses.” Well-narrated and written, good digital work, and truly infused with joy."
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdwJORmVEpw
1st Place: Emily Wozer, Emily Shafritz, and Lily Neher (UNH)
Comments from the Judges: “This project engaged with complex social issues in truly innovative ways. The layering of media over the performance created powerful messaging, and this was enhanced by the discussion of each dance piece. The choreography, creativity, and relevant themes created three profound meditations on global issues. The passion of the student participants and collaboration needed to realize this innovative project made this an example of both creative and scholarly investigation and excellence.."
Produced by Liese Zahabi and Kevin Healey as part of the We Hold These Truths grant program sponsored by COLA at UNH. Choreography and dance performances by Emily Wozer, Emily Shafritz, and Lily Neher.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCYrG3Jigqo
2nd Place: Ahylvia Parker, Bol Nakdimo, Arianna Kelly, Paraskevi Lykoudi, Achot Nakdimo, David Bilodeau (MCC)
Comments from the Judges: “This project told one of the truths of mental illness in an innovative way that made the content both accessible and artistically rich. Establishing mental illness as a character within the storyline demonstrated real narrative skill and creativity. This moving video depicts the personal experience of a mental health crisis, showing others they are not alone. The creativity of personifying inner monologue and the real resources provided to help those in crisis made this a meaningful and innovative project."
Ahylvia Parker...script writer
Bol Nakdimo...actress and editor
Arianna Kelly...actress
Paraskevi Lykoudi...director, actress, poet, editor
Achot Nakdimo...sound
David Bilodeau...camera
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6S7_pq10zM
3rd Place: Addison Kennamer (UNH)
Comments from the Judges: “The artistic aesthetics of this project were quite striking. This project serves not only as a piece of art in itself, but also as an illustration of the creative process. This student produced a layered look at this creative process, which includes performance, poetry, and an exploration of inner monologue, all the while questioning, which is the spirit of both creativity and critical thinking."
Link: https://media.unh.edu/media/The+Big+ContestA+Innovative+Design+Award+3rd+PlaceA+Addison+Kennamer+/1_8otd4o8m
1st Place: Melissa Sprague (NHTI)
Comments from the Judges: “While not a creative or persuasive project per se, I think this one has the chance to have the largest impact. It codifies and explains, in very clear terms, how to succeed in something extremely important both to students and to the community at large. Also tremendously useful for Sprague to codify what she’s learned for the next generation(s)."
Link: http://www.nhteye.com/letters-to-a-young-publication
2nd Place: Rachel Spaulding (UNH)
Comments from the Judges: “A well-executed combination of video and slideshow, it approaches a clear problem with nuance and solutions. The clear linkages between policy, culture, and society writ large had real depth and showed both passion and strong research."
Link: https://media.unh.edu/media/The+Big+ContestA+Change+the+World+2nd+PlaceA+Rachel+Spaulding/1_opcb09d0
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3rd Place: Felecia Blodgett-Duran, Emily DeMerritt, Erika Lagrenade, Lucy Owen, Collette Urda (UNH)
Comments from the Judges: “The level of research was high quality, approaching an enduring and complex social problem with tools from a variety of fields. The presentation was polished, thorough, and professionally persuasive."
Link: https://mypages.unh.edu/hugemanities/multi-systems-presentation?admin_panel=1
This year The BIG Contest looked closely at themes of racial and social equity and we would especially like to thank all of the participants and teachers from UNH and CCSNH that have contributed projects that embody a creative vision for a world without injustice. This work, and work like it, shines a light on the critical role that the humanities play in shaping our world. It is through thinking critically, leading, communicating, and working cooperatively, that we continue to drive change.
There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear.
We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.
Toni Morrison. The Nation, 2015
1stPlace: Emma Levin(UNH)
Judge’s Comments: Emma Levin has compiled a very imaginative and often fun video on animal imagery in Shakespeare'sKing Lear. Shecombines animation, music, images of Renaissance paintings, definitions, and audio excerpts from the play into a nicely explained analysis.By setting the video up as a fund-raising campaign for the fictitious "Albion Zoo," Levin adds creativity and levity into her well-researched study.
Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pC6XJLn5lPP9VfKsgBrbB0uOABIEPtax/view
2nd Place: Evan Stanley(UNH)
Judge’s Comments: Evan Stanley contrasts the exclusive, affluent tourist areas with the nearby poverty-ridden slums in Aruba. He shows his privileged upbringingand vacations as they juxtapose with the poverty of this tropical island. Through this visual comparison, Stanley sends a powerful message of there being two worlds that we live in.
3rd Place: Tinotenda Duche(UNH)
Judge’s Comments:Tinotena Duchecombines her own photographs with historical images from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and text to display a powerful message of racial prejudice and perseverance over the past century. The Spark project provides a layered set of resources, and is effectively organized with links to recent web sites and resources.
Direct link: https://spark.adobe.com/page/gcMJ56jC3v2Vi/
Honorable Mentions: Danielle Forte and Cassidy Mottola
1st Place: Melissa Sprague et al. (NHTI)
Judge’s Comments:I find this project particularly compelling from both an academic and a public-facing standpoint. The Eye has (again) linked an extensive amount of research into a clean, readable interface, showing a tremendous amount of learning from the students thatcan also illuminate public understanding and therefore facilitate change. This does a great job of artfully weaving together a series of related sub-topics--Education, Advocacy, History, Politics, Social Justice--as relate to indigenous people. It comes across as the beginning of a much larger conversation we will all want to be a part of.”
2nd Place: Vianca Wahju (UNH)
Judge’s Comments: “Of the many personal narratives and stories, this one dug the deepest in terms of autobiographical material and rich media. It told an effective story of immigrant identity formation in a new community, both the highs and lows, in a way that personalized and richly nuanced broader political debates.”
Note: Video shared only with permission of the author, contact hugemanities.project@unh.edu with requests
3rd Place: Kate Persson (UNH)
“This is a really interesting and unexpected project that makes the point that Social Justice is a common concern that transcends boundaries andborders while providing a wealth of focused information and resources. Great page design!”
“As far as breadth of ambition, this project well exceeded its peers. It is still in its process of completion but making available tools and resources for immigrant communities settling into different German communities was laudably audacious in its ambition. The website used and extent of the links are a true attempt to make change by providing a clean, usable interface.”
Website direct link: https://educatetointegrate.weebly.com/
Honorable Mentions: Lily Pudlo, Iian Connor, Larissa Bisette
1st Place: Brooke Marston (UNH)
Judge’s Comments: This project has scholarly roots but a playful presence. It is an interesting and relevant game design that combines critical thought with technological exploration –the best of the digital humanities!”
Direct Link: https://sites.google.com/view/marstonyouthmedia/entry-4
2nd Place: Alice Russell (UNH)
Judge’s Comments: “This is a very interesting and innovative approach tothinking about the year through the act of creation. This is a GREAT use of technology, language,and the act of creation here exemplifies the digital humanities.”
Direct link: https://javayaga.github.io/hypertext/
3rd Place: Chloe Serena (UNH)
Judge’s Comments:“This eZineincludes a wealth of “Italian” content –writing, recipes, original video and original art / painting. There is a wealth of research and also a wealth of dynamic elements! The content is strong and includes personal histories. The content scores very highand the innovation is top notch!”
Direct Link: https://www.flipsnack.com/potpourri733/italian-roots-spring-2021-issue.html
Honorable Mentions: Danielle Forte for her “Behind the Farmstand” video and Erin Williams for her Renaissance Survivor’s Instagram account
1st Place: Rebecca Nann (NHTI)
Judge’s Comments: This film is truly a piece of art. As the filmmaker engages us in research, theory, and personal examples, we are simultaneously experiencing “art-making,” collage work, film, music, contemporary images and videos, and historical pieces. The film reminds us that we are constantly consuming and creating art, especially in the time of a pandemic, and the more aware we are of its power, the greater chance we have to reflect, heal, remember, and gain collective strength.
Direct Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1leyUSs2s4M8v6Wbc-CprfCOqVd2u_B2A/view
Resource List: https://givenhcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Pandemic-resource-list.pdf
2nd Place: Anneliese Papinsick and Virginia Walsh (UNH)
Judge’s Comments: The Citizenship School project told this important “forgotten”local story through its own artifacts, newspaper clippings, long ago taken photographs, and a carefully reconstructed narrative. The filmmakers’ research and attention to the true story, including the race issues in the early suffrage movement, allowed the spirit, effort, and ultimate success to be retold. We also hear echoes of contemporary issues related to voter suppression. This project is stark, powerful, and well-researched.
Direct Link: https://media.unh.edu/media/The+Forgotten+History+of+Women+at+UNHA+The+C...
Additional Resources: https://mypages.unh.edu/1919schoolforcitizenship
3rd Place: Lilian Pudlo (UNH)
Judge’s Comments:“Competition: The Journey of a Closeted Athlete” is a film full of images highlighting the vibrancy and joy of sport as it tells a narrative of identity struggle and the will to live “truthfully.” This juxtaposition is a beautiful and necessary contrast and one that the filmmaker reconciles in the end. Sport and life intertwine as we cheer our narrator on toward peace, acceptance, and the hope we see in those last images on the rugby field, all smiles.
Direct Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDnIytNlA8U
Honorable Mentions: Gabby Podmore, Hannah Clark
Andrew W. Mellon Fellows from The New Hampshire Humanities Collaborative, served as judges for the 2020 BIG Contest. All of of organizers and participants would like to offer sincere thanks to them, as well as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, for making this all possible. There are four catagories, view them all below.
1st place: Meghan Murphy
Comments from the Judges: "The Day that Sports Stopped" focuses on Riley Freehling, whose senior gymnastic season was cut short by COVID-19, ending her athletic career. Murphy weaves in the importance of gymnastics and the UNH gymnastics community to Freehling to highlight the pain of losing this sport season. This highly relevant and topical essay uses powerful visual editing and effective music and voice overs to capture the sense of loss to Freehling and her teammates.
2nd place: Elena Gregory
Cancer and COVID-19: A Patient’s Perspective During the Global Pandemic
Comments from the Judges: "Cancer Patient" is a story of Gregory's father's battle with pancreatic cancer amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Using her father's own words, Gregory unveils the challenges of fighting cancer, while focusing on living. This short film gives a universal and moving message of fear and uncertainty as well as hope and strength.
3rd place: Annaliese Schmell
Comments from the Judges: "Same Same, but Different" shows Schmell's experiences while working to help impoverished people in Nepal. She tells the story of how she grew as a person while volunteering, making deep, short-term connections with the people there. She shows her experiences of heartbreak and trauma, but also love and humanity.
1st Place: Hope Davids (and company)
A special edition, online publication titled "A Century of Change and Female Empowerment (1920-2020)." All nine students in ENGL287, which is known as "Women in Lit." worked together on this project. We planned the project with excitement about marking the 100th anniversary of women in the U.S. getting the right to vote with passage of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution. An exhibition of student work was also supposed to take place on our campus on 4/30 with this website featured, along with posters, and this submission to the HUGEmanities "Big Contest." Thankfully, our class, working as three groups, met in person before spring break and have continued to meet in Zoom weekly since then. Two members of the class are part of the campus' literary journal (Hope Davids, VP, and Kathryn Shaw, editor), and we decided it made the most sense to partner with the literary journal to develop our project there to share it with a larger audience. Despite working in grocery stories and more during the pandemic, our class members really pulled together and submitted the writing, photos, and illustrations/infographics they had planned in February, and made a meaningful website. http://www.nhteye.com/women-and-change-edition-home-page
This is the home page, which links with the title buttons to the other five pages of the special edition of the literary journal. Please be sure to click on each title button to view the full website.
Comments from the Judges: A beautifully assembled and conceptually well executed piece, with clarity of purpose and a diversity of viewpoints and applications to the modern world.
2nd Place: Jasmine Taudvin
This collection of interviews shows students from around the world (30 interviews, 15 different countries) talking about what they were taught in history class about the same historical events. The point of the video is the highlight how each country teaches the same historical events through a different perspective, and how students from different countries have different understandings of a shared past. Some of these differences are enormous, while others are more subtle. However, our understanding of the past shapes our understanding of identities today, making the fact that these discrepancies exist incredibly important to understanding each other in the present day. Due to permissions, the video posted here is an edited version of full-length video, but it gives an idea of the content.
Shorter Clip of The London Project
Comments from the Judges: A magnificent and ambitious idea whose composition was truly global and diverse, and which used global diversity to ask wide-ranging questions about how we understand our shared world.
3rd Place: Lisa Robidoux
I was studying abroad in London this semester, and I worked on a semester long "London Project" for my class. While out exploring London, I stumbled upon the Thames River Barrier. This is a water barrier system that was designed to help prevent floods in London and is now being used to help hold back sea level rise and the effects it will have on the Thames and the area around the Thames River. I decided I wanted to research what London, one of the most popular and historic cities in the world, is doing to combat climate change. I wanted to focus on what London is currently doing to fight climate change, what the effects of climate change have on the city and the river, and what their plan is for the future. It was extremely fun and educational to learn what London is doing to fight climate change, and it made me interested to learn what other major cities across the globe are doing, as this is a global issue. Prezi link can be navigated using the arrow keys on your keyboard. https://prezi.com/view/ibSn9PpEtPaIPmYBsUpC/
Comments from the Judges: A laudably deep dive into the intersection of a huge problem with a local feature, one with variable and wide-reaching effects touching on history, geography, economics, politics, and more.
1st Place : Kylie Gorgenyi
Feedback from the Judges: This project was does most everything well: good use of titles, lively narrative pacing, effective transitions, great choice of music, and a sense of humor. The author's skill and creativity at working in visual and written communication are evident throughout. The images are well-chosen, used artfully, and technique and technology are employed very effectively without ever getting in the way of story-telling, This project goes beyond personal narrative to include its audience while making a larger topical point. Very well done in every regard.
2nd Place: Leah Minnucchi
Feedback from the Judges: This is a very well designed project with a clear and engaging narrative. The voice over is particularly well done, and the numerous pop culture clips and references impart an appropriately friendly, if not humorous vibe. The move towards the end to note the familial and cultural importance of food works well, enlarges the narrative, and builds a stronger connection between the viewers and the narrative. This is a very smooth, seamless project that makes the most of its topic.
3rd Place: Kelsey Van Dalsum
Feedback from the Judges: This is a strong project with an engaging narrative and good production value. There are some really interesting music choices, and the pacing of the narrative is well done. The entire projects is well thought out, effectively delivered, and enjoyable to watch .
1st Place: Matt Quinney
"Early 1900’s Process of Adding Sound to Film/Film Noir"
Film Noir (Big Contest Submission) Dubbing & ADR (Big Contest Submission)
Comments from the Judges: We have decided to consider both of these projects as one. Our decision was based on the similarity of each, which also highlights the skill and ingenuity of the larger project. Each film demonstrated good academic rigor and insight. The design and execution of each project showed a sense of professionalism and skill for not only the use of mixing and editing the video, but also the execution of the sample films. Overall, this larger project works to demonstrate the interlacing aspects of what the humanities are and how it can be highlighted.
2nd Place: Erin Mahoney
"Grief, Guilt, and David Bowie" (Due to the nature of this project, you can veiw this project at: http://multimodalmel.com/501/pages/StationtoStation/
Comments from the Judges: The project showed ingenuity and was a delight to read. In particular, the writing showed advanced skill, which then worked well with the interactive aspects of the project. The project was difficult to access, but this also highlighted the skill and originality of the participant to tackle an html project.
3rd Place: Evan Edmunds
"London Soccer" (Website) https://tekkert1me.wordpress.com/
Comments from the Judges: The project was well organized and had a cohesive wholeness to it that lacked in some of the other blogging projects. The blog was well organized, had embedded video and pictures, and had multiple lengthy entries that highlighted strong writing.
ARCHIVE
the 2019 Winners of The BIG Contest:
In 2019, we ran our first Big Contest, and gave financial awards for digital work in the humanities and the liberal arts at the University of New Hampshire. This year, we've grown! We're seeking digital assignments from UNH and NH Community College Students!
Please click HERE to read about Big Contest guidelines
and new submission categories for 2020.
Breakout Award: For a distinguished project from a first-year student
Halle Hamilton "Rich Media Presentation"
Halle Hamilton Rich Media Presentation HUGEmanities
Deans Award: James Ennis "Last Hike"
Digital Storytelling Award: For a distinguished project featuring narrative as the driving component
Madelyn O'Leary "The Hinton Family"
Hinton Family
Dean's Award: Abigail McIntosh "Winter"
McIntosh Storytelling 2019
Design and Innovation Award: For a distinguished project involving design as a primary component of delivery
Cassie Hollasch for "Jane Eyre's New Writers Forum"
Also found at: https://mypages.unh.edu/cassieswebsite
