2014 Contests

Download the Rules and Application

This competition encourages and recognizes students who create art based on the themes presented in the 2014-2015 Bearkats Read to Succeed common reader, Reader Player One, by Ernest Cline.

Eligibility
The contest is open to all students enrolled full-time (minimum 12 hours) at Sam Houston State University in the fall 2014 semester who have read the book.

Prizes
Best of Show: $250
Second place: $150
Honorable Mention: $100.

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Rules and Application

For this contest, students will write a work of short fiction (no more than 8,000 words) that qualifies as “fan fiction.” To be considered fan fiction, it must incorporate characters, settings, contexts, and/or ideas from Ready   Player One, extending, critiquing, or redirecting the vision of the novel (or some aspect of the novel). The student’s story should engage with one of the social, cultural, environmental, or political issues that the book introduces.

Prize
A scholarship valued at $250 will be awarded to the author of the winning story. The winner will also be recognized at the author’s lunch with Ernest Cline on November 12, 2014.

Due Date
Stories must be received by 4:00 p.m., Monday, October 20, 2014. Electronic submissions are preferred.

Download the Rules and Application

At the heart of Ready Player One is a treasure hunt, full of puzzles to solve, villains to vanquish, and opponents to out-score. And yet unlike a lot of “fantasy” fiction, the book often feels quite realistic, as if it were set in our world, only a few decades into the future. Write an essay in which you connect Wade’s quest to themes or issues important to us today. Issues to consider may include, but are not limited to, the novel's treatment of social networking, identity formation, environmental sustainability, or online education. Use specific examples from the book to support your analysis or interpretation.

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READY PLAYER ONE?
#READYPLAYERONE #LIBRARYWIN
facebook.com/shsulibrary

Read Ready Player One, the new Bearkats Read to Succeed selection, and watch for questions marked with #ReadyPlayerOne and #LibraryWin on the Library FB page. Be the first to answer correctly and win a prize!

August-October win daily prizes!

Poetry and Lyric Contest

Download the Rules and Application

Students should write a poem or lyric about a surviving spirit in a dystopian future dependent on virtual reality and threatened by environmental decline or about key concerns in contemporary life and technology’s place in our future: social networking, online identity, environmental sustainability, online education, and our relationship to the past.

Eligibility
The contest is open to first-time freshmen and to other students who enroll full-time (minimum 12 hours) at Sam Houston State University in the fall 2014 semester.

Prize
Scholarships valued at $250 each will be awarded to one first-time freshman student and other full-time student submitting the winning poems/lyrics. The winners will also be recognized at the author’s lunch with Ernest Cline on November 12, 2014.

First-time freshman winner: $250 scholarship
Other full-time student winner: $250 scholarship

Due Date
Poems/Lyrics must be submitted by 4:00 pm, Monday, October 20, 2014

Download the Rules and Application

This research poster competition encourages and recognizes incoming freshmen who investigate and design a research project based on the central theme of the 2014-2015 Bearkats Read to Succeed common reader, Reader Player One, by Ernest Cline.

Eligibility
The contest is open to all freshmen who enroll full-time (minimum 12 hours) at Sam Houston State University in the fall 2014 semester.

Prize
A scholarship valued at $500 will be awarded to the freshman student submitting the winning poster. The winner will also be recognized at the author’s lunch with Ernest Cline on November 12, 2014.

Due Date
Posters must be submitted by 4:00 pm, Monday November 3, 2014