This October, the College of William and Mary Libraries will host its inaugural Draw the Line Comics Contest. Students are asked to create a comic showcasing a real example of student activism on college campuses, historic or modern.
The contest chairs, Instruction and Research Librarians Liz Bellamy ’13 and Rachel Hogan, hope that this contest will give students an opportunity to display information in a creative way while also gaining real knowledge about how college students have exercised advocacy over the years.
“I hope that people who are more creative and not necessarily just strictly textual, that this is a good opportunity for them to showcase their skills, but also do research. And I do hope also that people are looking at their examples of student activism that they learn a little bit along the way,” Hogan said.
The initial idea for the contest came from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Jurgen Comics Contest, which seeks to highlight comic art related to banned books and other censored creative mediums.
“We really like what [VCU] was doing because it gave an opportunity for students to express research ideas creatively,” Bellamy said.
The College as a whole has been highlighting creative expression recently, notably with the 2023-24 “Year of the Arts.” Marenna Spieker ’28, a violist in the College Symphony Orchestra and the Appalachian Music Ensemble, expressed excitement with how the College Libraries is specifically encouraging students to become more involved with the arts through this contest.
“I think it provides unique opportunities within the arts, and promoting the arts is always healthy,” Spieker said. “Glad they’re doing it.”
The College has also recently been experiencing increased student activism. This contest can serve as a way for students to connect with historic examples of protest.
The inspiration for this year’s student-activism theme is Marilyn Kaemmerle ’45, a former editor-in-chief of The Flat Hat who wrote a 1945 editorial that advocated for complete racial equality and further race education at the College.
“The most important work must be done in educating ourselves away from the idea of White Supremacy, for this belief is as groundless as Hitler’s Nordic Supremacy nonsense. We are injuring our personalities with arrogance; we are blocking our own growth,” Kaemmerle wrote in her editorial.
As a result of her piece, Kaemmerle was forced to resign her position at The Flat Hat at risk of expulsion from the College. The College did not issue a formal apology for their actions until 1986, 19 years after they began accepting residential students of color.
“The story of Marilyn Kaemmerle really is a part of William and Mary history that I don’t think gets talked about a lot. So it was cool to kind of bring her example to the forefront,” Hogan said.
There are two categories for comic strip submissions: “Main Contest” and “Mini-Comic.” Main comics should be no larger than 11×17 inches and can be in color or black-and-white.
For the main contest category, there will be one $750 grand prize and three $250 runner-up prizes. For the mini-comic category, there will be one $250 grand prize.
Any current student at the College is free to participate in this contest for either category. Submissions may be group or individual, but prize money will be awarded per submission, not per each individual.
Students may only submit one comic for the main contest, but may submit an additional mini-comic highlighting the same example of student activism if they so desire.
All comic strips must be accompanied by an artist statement of around 250-500 words. Contest submissions will be judged by a panel of judges representing William & Mary Libraries, English/creative writing and the art and art history department.
According to the contest webpage, they will be looking for “creativity, evidence of research, connection to theme, clarity of artist statement, [and] innovative use of the comic medium.”
Main contest finalists will be printed and displayed in the Read & Relax room in the Earl Gregg Swem Library during the spring 2025 semester. The Mini-Comic grand prize winner will be added to the College’s Short Story Machine. All five prize-winning comics will also be digitally preserved in ScholarWorks.
The deadline for submissions is Friday, Oct. 18. For more information, students can visit the Draw the Line Comics Contest webpage listed under William & Mary Libraries “News and Events.”
