2009 Commonbook Creative Contest Winners

Creative Contest Display

The ACU Library display for the 2009 Commonbook Creative Contest is up!  Freshmen were invited to submit some kind of original creation — an essay, song, video, art, etc. — inspired by the common book.  The ACU First Year Office judged the entries.

The 2009 winners are:

• First Place and $500 to Eric Schumann, Worship Ministry major from Sugar Land, TX for his original song entitled Imposter
• Second Place and $250 to Morgan Addie Hallmark, Art major from Garland, TX for her artwork entitled “Who Needs a Boat”
• Third Place and $250 to Brittany Partridge, Political Science and History (Pre-Law) major from Annandale, MN for her essay The Kaleidoscope Experiment

Download Song

It is interesting to see what part of Searching caught these students’ attentions and inspired them to their own expressions.  I, like Eric, can relate to the Imposters chapter where Donald Miller talks about how we all hide behind a mask and try to present ourselves as something else in order to impress people or to hide our own insecurity.  I can identify with the feelings in Eric’s song, especially the stanza:

I stare at the piano, then back at the crowd,

Hoping something I do will make them proud.

You can download the song to your mobile device using the mobile tag above, or listen over the web.

Morgan picks up that theme, too, but takes it in a different direction.  Inspired by the Life Boat Theory in Searching, Morgan suggests that we don’t need to prove our value to justify our existence, to be able to stay in the figurative Life Boat.  Those who have Christ get our glory from God.  Check out her art “Who Needs a Boat“.  What a great way to show this attitude in one clear picture!

Download essay

Brittany’s essay was remarkable to me because it was not just theoretical musings.  It was about a real event in her life.  Her essay is the story of how she shifted the pattern of her life by letting God change her perspective.  How many of us have the courage to do that?  Use the mobile tag for easy downloading to your mobile, or view on your desktop.

Congratulations to each of these people, and to all those who entered the Creative Contest, for helping us think about ourselves and our relationships in new ways.  Thank you for sharing yourself with others.

Now how about you, the reader?  What do you notice about these entries from your peers?  What do they make you think about?  Share with us in the comments.