The Contest

In a world that is constantly evolving, the intricate tapestry of Asian American culture thrives through the threads of tradition, memory, and aspiration. 

This scholarship contest invites Asian American high school students to explore, express, and celebrate what ties them to your cultural roots. By highlighting your connection to Asian American heritage, students are also reminded of your role as the next generation's stewards in keeping this rich culture vibrant and alive.

 

Categories

Visual Arts

Painting and Drawing / Sculpture / Photography / Digital Art and Graphics

Description:
Create visual artworks that depict elements, moments, or symbols that tether you to your Asian American heritage.

Submission:
This can be through traditional or contemporary art forms, including but not limited to paintings, sketches, digital art, sculptures, or songs.

Inspiration:
Reflect on family heirlooms, traditional festivals, rituals, pop culture or any visual motifs that represent your connection to Asian American culture.

Performing Arts (Video Submission)

Traditional Cultural Performances / Contemporary Dance and Music / Spoken Word

Description:
Craft performances embodying your connection to Asian American culture and their role in preserving it. This can span traditional dances, reinterpreted art forms, or original compositions that resonate with Asian American cultural themes.

Submission:
Solo performance in dance, music, theater, spoken word, short film, monologues, or any combination thereof. Maximum 3 minutes in video length.

Inspiration:
Think about ancestral songs, traditional dances, modern/contemporary cultural elements, or stories that have been passed down and how they might be presented in today's context.

Literary Arts

Poetry / Short Story / Personal Essay

Description:
Pen down tales, essays, or poems exploring your connections to Asian American culture and the intrinsic role of nurturing and passing on this legacy. No more than 900 words (if written) or 3 minutes (if video).

Submission:
Entries can span personal essays, short stories, poems, or memoirs.

Inspiration:
Dive into familial stories, personal experiences with Asian American traditions, modern/contemporary cultural elements, or musings on the future of Asian American culture in your hands.

 
 

Contest Rules

Eligibility

  • Open to students who identify as Asian American or Pacific Islander 

  • You must be in high school, currently enrolled in the 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade 

  • Your submission must be in English or translated into English

Submission Period

Submissions open on January 8, 2024.

Submissions close on March 10, 2024, at 11:59 PM PST.

Entry Requirements

  • You may submit entries in the following categories: Visual Arts, Performing Arts, and Literary Arts.

  • Your entries must be the original work.

  • One entry per category per person. No group entries.

  • Students under 18 years of age must have parent/guardian permission and signature

How To Submit

  1. Visit our Instagram page @makenoisetoday

  2. Follow Us*

  3. Submit your entry below (Submission deadline March 10, 2024)
    Contest winners will be contacted via Instagram DM by week of April 22, 2024.

    *You must follow@makenoisetoday on Instagram to enter the contest. (The submission form will ask you to confirm your Instagram handle.) Submissions by students who do not follow @makenoisetoday will not be included as part of the contest and exhibition.

Prizes

Visual Arts Category

First Place: $2,000

Second Place: $1,000

Third Place: $500

Performing Arts Category

First Place: $2,000

Second Place: $1,000

Third Place: $500

Literary Arts Category

First Place: $2,000

Second Place: $1,000

Third Place: $500

Make Noise Today is awarding contest money to the winners as scholarship funds.
The prize is intended to help fund tuition, housing, or school supplies.

Judging Criteria

See “Judging Rubric” for each category criteria.

Adherence to submission guidelines.

Judges

Winner Selection

  • Winners will be selected by a panel of judges within each category.

  • The decisions of the judges are final and binding.

 

Notification

  • Winners will be notified via DM on Instagram and email by April 21, 2024.

  • If a winner cannot be contacted within seven (14) days, Make Noise Today reserves the right to deem the prize forfeited and an alternate winner will be selected.

Scholarship Distribution

  • Scholarship money will be paid directly to each winner before the beginning of the 2025 academic year - September 1, 2024.

Rights to Submissions and Publicity

  • By entering the contest, participants grant the Make Noise Today organization and its affiliates a royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive license to display, distribute, reproduce, and create derivative works of the entries, in whole or in part, in any media now existing or subsequently developed, for any educational, promotional, publicity, exhibition, archival, scholarly, and all other standard Make Noise Today purposes. Make Noise Today will not be required to pay any additional consideration or seek any additional approval in connection with such uses.

  • Entry into the contest constitutes consent to use the winners' names, likenesses, and submissions for editorial, advertising, and publicity purposes without additional compensation, except where prohibited by law.

  • Make Noise Today reserves the right to use all contest submissions on their social media platforms and other publicity materials with proper credit given to the creators.

Privacy

  • Personal information collected from participants will be used only to administer the contest and award the prizes.

Exhibition of Work

  • Select student submissions will be chosen for display in both an in-person and virtual art exhibition.

  • By submitting an entry, participants waive any right to compensation for the display of their work in these exhibitions.

  • The exhibition is intended to celebrate the talent and effort of participants and to promote the cultural significance of Asian American heritage.