PIC opens study abroad photo contest to voters
Courtesy Photo / gvsu.edu PIC is a competition for students who have studied abroad to participate in. Photographic works will be accepted.
Oct 6, 2010
Grand Valley State University will take a page out of the Artprize book in the coming weeks as all current students, faculty and staff vote for their favorite entry in “PIC Pics: A Study Abroad Photo Contest.”
The Padnos International Center opened the contest to all current GVSU students and alumni who have studied abroad, as well as those who have participated in internships or independent study programs.
“An event such as PIC Pics allows for a person’s images to be part of a conversation, both among the other work and also among the people who engage it,” said David Rathbun, a professor of photography in GVSU’s School of Communications. “Valuable insights for viewer and photographer may and should emerge from the experience.”
Contestants were allowed to submit two photographs to any or all of the six categories: Send Me There!, The Great Outdoors, Get Lost, Celebration, Tradition, & Ritual, Where is Your Classroom? and Social Issues. The diverse topics were selected in hopes of attracting the most breathtaking photographs of differing social climates and geographical landscapes that served as home for GVSU students during their time abroad.
“I’m not much of a photographer, but it’ll be nice to see what some of my classmates were able to capture while they were abroad,” said Mike Tuscany, a senior who also traveled to Rome this past summer. “If any of the pictures bring me back to where I was in June, those will be the ones getting my vote.”
Voting will take place from Oct. 15 through the end of the month, with the exhibit remaining on display in the Red Wall Gallery of Lake Ontario Hall through December. Prizes will be awarded to competitors who finish in the top three among voters, with all ballots being cast in person at the Padnos International Center as online and text polls will not be available.
It remains unclear whether the contest will take place every semester or annually. Students are encouraged to attend sometime in the exhibit’s first two weeks on display, which starts Monday.
“I think it’s a great way to make people more aware of the study abroad program in general,” said Matt Vitale, a senior who traveled to Italy this past summer. “At the very least, it’s pretty neat for those of us who have already had the opportunity to see what everyone else’s was like.”
For more information on the contest or the gallery’s hours of operation, visit http://www.gvsu.edu/studyabroad/ and click on the “PIC” graphic on the main page.
