Check out our competition guidelines before starting your submission! See how to submit here. You can also check out some past prompts here.

Current prompts: January 8th - February 29th

About the theme

This competition’s theme is Rebirth. Our last theme was change and transition — a transition into a new era, a new life, or a new paradigm. Rebirth necessarily follows change in all contexts, whether that we personal, social, or intellectual. “New year, new me,” as we like to say: transitions in our personal lives seem to coincide with transitions in other areas of life. It is in this spirit that the opening competition for 2024 spotlights the theme of rebirth.

Option 1: Text submissions (writing, poetry, written lyrics)

Prompt: Come up with a creation myth for the universe or world we live in.

• Creativity really matters here! As accurate as it might be, we’re not looking for a scientific explanation; let’s leave that up to the scientists! We are looking for a myth. That means storytelling, character development, interactions, and everything a good story contains.
• The creation myth, as outlandish as it may be, should make some sort of sense.
• You can take inspiration from, but not copy other creation myths. We want to know how YOU think about this, not other people.

Option 2: Visual media, and Performing arts submissions (videos, drawings, paintings, music, photos)

Prompt: Depict a piece with an aspect of Renaissance artistic/musical/performing innovation, or a piece inspired by another from the same time period.

• The Renaissance was a time of rebirth for the humanities. Demonstrate this with a piece inspired by a work from this era, or a piece that shows renaissance influence.
• Ex. A work inspired by chiaroscuro, a strong contrast between light and dark, would be a great submission to the competition.