Skip to main content
Contest Information
Contest Criteria
Essay Contest
Visual Media Contest
  1. Students submitting to the contest must be enrolled in the College of Fine Arts and Communications or a participant in a performing arts group or tour.
  2. Students may have graduated prior to contest judging but must have been enrolled in the university during the completion of their experiential learning opportunity.
  3. Students must indicate if they received funding to participate in their experiential learning opportunity. If students received funding, they should also specify where those funds came from.
  4. Submissions must be submitted before the deadline. 
    Submissions received after 11:59 PM on Thursday, September 28, 2023 will not be considered.
  5. Please email cfacpr@byu.edu before 5:00 pm on Thursday, September 28 2023 if you are having trouble submitting or have questions.
  6. Please do not email your submission to cfacpr@byu.edu. Submissions that are received by email will not be considered.

RULES
i. All entries must be about experiences that occurred during Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023 or Summer 2023 (academic year 2022-2023).

ii. Submit entries through cfaccontest.byu.edu (not through email).

  1. Accept all cookies for cfaccontest.byu.edu.
  2. Fill out the form completely.
  3. Make sure your essay is submitted in the File Upload section.
  4. Submit your essay as a PDF file. (.pdf)
  5. While students are invited to post their pictures/videos to social media using the hashtag #ExperienceCFAC, simply posting with the tag does not constitute a submission. Students must upload all photos in their submission to cfaccontest.byu.edu to be considered for the contest.

iii. Essay guidelines:

  1. Essays should be 350-700 words. Essays that do not meet these constraints will not be considered. No exceptions.
  2. All essays should include at least 1 photo of the student during their experience (a maximum of 4 photos). Photos that showcase the student’s learning opportunity in action are preferred. If you did not take the photo, make sure to credit the individual who did.
  3. Each entry must include a 100-200 word caption that explains how the inspiring learning opportunity changed them. Note: this is 1 caption for the entire entry, not a caption for each photo in an entry

    Essay submissions that do not contain at least 1 photo with a caption will not be considered in the contest.

iv. Your story is your experience, but “sharing your experience” requires you to explain what it meant to you and how it meets the criteria. Answer the following questions as you craft your essay:

  1. What skills did you develop during the experience that you wouldn’t be able to learn on campus?
  2. How has this experience enriched your ability to practice your craft? In other words, how did this experience make you a better practitioner in your field?
  3. How has your experience influenced or changed your future plans?
  4. How does it meet President Worthen’s charge for “inspiring learning”
  5. How does this embody BYU’s charge to “enter to learn, go forth to serve

Due date: 11:59 pm on Thursday, September 28, 2023

**Email cfacpr@byu.edu before 5:00 pm on Thursday, September 28, 2023 with questions if you cannot upload your file!** 

Please do not email your submission; submissions received by email will not be considered.

i. All entries must be about experiences that occurred during Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023 or Summer 2023 (academic year 2022-2023).

ii. Submit entries through cfaccontest.byu.edu (not through email).

  1. Accept all cookies for cfaccontest.byu.edu.
  2. Fill out the form completely.
  3. Make sure your entry is submitted in the Photo/Visual Upload section
  4. While students are invited to post their pictures/videos to social media using the hashtag #ExperienceCFAC, simply posting with the tag does not constitute a submission. Students must submit all visual media at cfaccontest.byu.edu to be considered for the contest.

iii. Visual media submissions include any of the following types of visual representations of a student’s experiential learning (*see below for additional guidelines):

  1. Photographs
  2. Videos
  3. Digital representation of a design project
  4. Digital representation of a work of art

iv. All entries must be about experiences that occurred during Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023 or Summer 2023 (academic year 2022-2023).

  1. Each student is limited to 2 visual media entries.

    • For example, a student is allowed to submit a video entry separate from a photo entry about their experience; however, they should also respect the guidelines for each entry (limit to 4 photos for a photo entry, limit to 3 minutes for a video submission).
  2. Each entry must include a 100-200 word caption that explains how the inspiring learning opportunity changed them. Note: this is 1 caption for the entire entry, not a caption for each photo in an entry.

v. Your story is your experience, but “sharing your experience” requires you to explain what it meant to you. Answer the following questions as you craft your caption:

  • What skills did you develop during the experience that you wouldn’t be able to learn on campus?
  • How has this experience enriched your ability to practice your craft? In other words, how did this experience make you a better practitioner in your field?
  • How has your experience influenced or changed your future plans?
  • How does it meet President Worthen’s charge for “inspiring learning
  • How does this embody BYU’s charge to “enter to learn, go forth to serve

vi. Photo guidelines

  1. Each entry can include up to 4 photos. Entries that include more than 4 photos will not be considered.
  2. Photos should be aesthetically constructed in addition to capturing inspiring learning in action.
  3. Entries should capture inspiring learning in action. Tourist photos will not be considered.
  4. While students are allowed to submit to both the visual media and the essay contests (you can even use the same experience in both submissions), students should not submit a photo/video to accompany their essay if they plan to submit that photo/video separately into the visual media contest. 

Double submissions will not be considered.

vii. Video guidelines

  1. Video submissions have a maximum length of 3 minutes. Videos longer than 3 minutes will not be considered.
  2. If your video uses any music, please submit your copyright license along with your submission; to understand more about copyright licenses, visit copyright.byu.edu.

**Email cfacpr@byu.edu before 5:00 pm on Thursday, September 28, 2023 with questions if you cannot upload your file!** 

Please do not email your submission; submissions received by email will not be considered.

Due date: 11:59 pm on Thursday, September 28, 2023

#ExperienceCFAC PAM 2023.mp4

Please keep in mind what BYU and the College of Fine Arts and Communications stand for. Do not write about events or use language that violates the Honor Code. The college reserves the right to use, edit and distribute all submissions.

*Where permitted by your program. Ask your faculty advisor for more information.

Past Stories

data-content-type="article"

Share Your Story: Esther Chang

April 30, 2020 12:00 AM
School of Music
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=true overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription=true overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Share Your Story: Sara Anderson

April 27, 2020 12:00 AM
Photography graduate Sara Anderson shares how an experiential learning opportunity has enhanced her time at BYU
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=true overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription=true overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Share Your Story: Ann Bateman

April 15, 2020 12:00 AM
School of Music
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=true overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription=true overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Share Your Story: Rebekah Kubosumi

April 15, 2020 12:00 AM
Art education student Rebekah Kubosumi shares how an experiential learning opportunity has enhanced her time at BYU
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=true overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription=true overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Share Your Story: Sophia Deighton

March 19, 2020 12:00 AM
Media Arts student Sophia Deighton
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=true overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription=true overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Share Your Story: Ellerie Arnold

March 13, 2020 12:00 AM
Design student Ellerie Arnold shares how an experiential learning opportunity has enhanced her time at BYU
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=true overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription=true overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= overrideTextAlignment=
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=true overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription=true overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=

Here in the College of Fine Art and Communications, we want to share your experiences! Take advantage of these provided resources and learn how you can be part of President Worthen’s initiative.

overrideTextColor=#2a2a2a overrideCardAlternateTextColor= overrideDisableBackgroundImage= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=true overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription=true overrideCardShowButton= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=
overrideTextColor=#2a2a2a overrideCardAlternateTextColor= overrideDisableBackgroundImage= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=true overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription=true overrideCardShowButton= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=
overrideTextColor=#2a2a2a overrideCardAlternateTextColor= overrideDisableBackgroundImage= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=true overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription=true overrideCardShowButton= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=
overrideTextColor=#2a2a2a overrideCardAlternateTextColor= overrideDisableBackgroundImage= overrideTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection=true overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription=true overrideCardShowButton= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=