By Amanda Cupido
A cash prize big enough to pay for your tuition may be in store if you can win Ryerson’s new video competition.
The competition titled RU Ryerson will be launched in January. The contest will ask students to make a three minute video about what Ryerson means to them.
The idea came from President Sheldon Levy and now a contest committee has been formed. Their first decision was about the prize: the winner will receive $5,000. The first and second runners up will also be awarded prizes.
“The prize had to be large enough and significant enough for students,” says Muhammed Ali Jabbar, RSU president and member of the contest committee. “It would be amazing to see a lot of entries.”
The video can be anything: from a song to a dance to a slide-show. Jabbar is excited to see what students can come up with. He hopes that the contest will bring students together from different faculties.
“We wanted something students could work together on,” he says. “I think it’s a wonderful thing.”
On Monday, a soft launch hit the web with a teaser video that explains some of the details of the competition. Members of the RSU strut and shiver to punchy jazz music. As they stroll around their beloved campus, they explain how to enter the contest and what to do. This is just the first of what the RSU hopes will be many videos.
“We want you to show what makes your Ryerson experience extraordinary,” they said.
Sean Carson, a third-year film student, is already interested in entering.
“I’d probably work with a group of FCAD students,” he says. “Five thousand dollars is definitely an incentive to do a video.”
Carson thinks the contest will entice students and many will be up for the challenge.
“There are probably going to be a lot of entries,” he says.
The top videos will be presented at a screening in March 2009. Jabbar hopes to secure the AMC theatres as a venue for the showcase. The event will be marketed at a campus-wide level.
This marketing campaign isn’t just under the RSU’s guidence, it also has an experienced guide at the helm.
Mike Bickerton, the alumni consultant on the contest committee, has been offering guidance and managing the logistics. He is a freelance director working for So You Think You Can Dance: Canada and is happy to be working with Ryerson students on the project.
“Students are so resourceful,” he says. “They can really get creative things done with very little resources.”
Bickerton is interested in seeing what the entries will be like.
“I’m really excited to see all the different angles that I can’t even think of,” he says.
For more information you can visit ruyerson.ca or check out YouTube for the RU Ryerson video.
Leave a Reply