On March 1, dozens of students throughout Skyline submitted their entries to the Skyline Satorian’s annual art and literature competition, competing for the chance to be published and recognized by other students and teachers.
This year’s theme is “Portrait of a Stranger,” which was chosen collectively by the Satorian student staff. Every year, the Satorian staff brainstorm all the different ideas that would work well as the competition theme. Lisa Thornbrue, the teacher advisor for the magazine, mentioned that nearly every year they end up with around 50 ideas, sometimes even more. Narrowing it down is quite the process. “Really any of the top five would have worked well, and when it came down to the final two, either would’ve been great,” Thornbrue admitted, but she’s still happy with this year’s theme. She always loves the discussion generated around deciding the theme each year. She said, “I enjoyed having it discussed and the passionate argumentation. One student got very animated and debated it and was very scientific about the theme. I thought it just inspired a lot of conversation.”
Once the theme is chosen, it’s time to promote the competition. Usually some of the Satorian staff are sent out to each English class to make the school aware that the contest is open for submissions. After that, it’s time to decide the winners.
When it comes to deciding the winners, Thornbrue says the process is pure democracy. All the staff members of the Satorian get to vote on which piece they believe should be the winner. There are many elements that go into voting, but two of the basic elements are what personally appeals to each voter and what submissions objectively have the most merit. “Both elements are considered,” Thornbrue says, though she really just lets them vote however they like. When asked what she looks for when voting, Mabel Crouse, a student member of the Satorian, said, “For me, I try to look for an interesting interpretation of the prompt. I know that I had a very clear idea in mind when we agreed on it, but it’s super interesting to see the different ways that people connect to the contest and express that in their submissions.” When it comes to execution, Crouse says, “Good art in terms of execution is always nice, but being able to feel the emotions of the artist or writer authentically in the piece is much more satisfying to me.”
Thornbrue is excited to see the submissions for this year, though there are some submissions from past years that will be hard to overshadow. One submission that has stood out to Thornbrue in past competitions is a literature submission by Mindy Phan. Phan has won the Satorian prize for literature both her Sophomore and Junior year. “The one from her sophomore year is about [how] her mother and her parents are first generation Vietnamese immigrants. And then the one she wrote last year is about her relationship with her father,” Thornbrue said. “And she’s thinking all these thoughts, and you know, the depth and the wisdom, okay, you’re that wise at age 16, writing this kind of stuff. So that was wow for me.”
