By Riley Gonzales, Staff Writer
This November, the Muses Online Literary Magazine began holding monthly art contests for the creative students of River Hill. These contests were started in order to increase awareness of the magazine and encourage more students to submit their works.
“Honestly, anyone can submit. We are going to be allowing recorded submissions, musical works, literary works, artwork, photography, literally anything that is creative,” explained Jennifer Gao, one of two editor-in-chiefs of the Muses magazine along with Claire Fagan.
The contest runs with a different theme each month, December’s theme being “Nostalgia,” and includes the categories Poetry/Prose, Visual Art/Photography, and Music/Film, the last of which is a new addition this year to the online magazine. This new category allows for more students to be able to share their creative works.
“River Hill has an abundance of creative students, whether writers or musicians, whether essayists or artists. I feel so very lucky to be able to go online and see the extraordinary pieces that students submit,” said Mrs. Schultz, the Muses adviser. The contests provide excellent opportunities for these pieces to be shared with peers.
Isabel Marcus won November’s contest, the theme of which was “Reunion,” under the category of Poetry/Prose. She shared that she had entered the contest because “I thought it might be fun to try to win this, but I really just wanted to write. I thought it was an interesting theme.”
Each monthly theme is chosen by a team of editors and is related to the time of year. The winners are voted by the editors based on the artwork’s relevance to the theme as well as technical skill. Winners receive an Amazon gift card, but that is not all that students can get out of participating in the Muses monthly contests. Participating brings the students of River Hill closer together.
“This contest is important just because it’s a really nice way for people to showcase their art in a really noncompetitive, harmonious atmosphere. It’s just really nice to see the creative works and creations of everyone around you, and you can really feel a sense of community,” stated Jennifer. Returning to in-person school from COVID, community is essential for students.
All in all, the Muses contests have achieved what they set out to accomplish. The Muses team of editors is satisfied with the effect the contest has had on student awareness of the magazine, as they received a total of twenty submissions for the November contest.
“For the first contest ever, it was really nice to see so many. Especially as we open up to more categories of art, we hope to continue receiving such a wide range of submissions,” expressed Estelle Chen, a freshman on the team of editors.
The monthly Muses contests provide a great opportunity for the creative students at River Hill to come together and share their art with one another. Submitting a piece is easy, as submission forms can be accessed right from the Muses website. “Anyone can submit, either named or anonymously,” Ms. Schultz commented, “and it is a joy to read and see the pieces.”