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DAHL Student Competition Guidelines

The DAHL Showcase allows you to submit your best academic or personal work created through or about digital tools. There are no limits as to what 'counts' as an appropriate submission, but below are some guidelines for a range of options that you may wish to pursue. Each year we have a different theme, chosen to inspire creative and academic responses, but also to be open to wide interpretation.

The 2024 theme is "memory and memories" - interpret that as you wish!

You can enter as an individual or as a team, undergrads, PGT, or PGR.

There are three classifications for the prizes: best production, best reflection, best overall.

Read these guidelines and use this formLink opens in a new window to enter.

If you have further questions, please contact Dr. Robert O'Toole via Teams Chat.

Videos and Podcasts

All time-based motion picture pieces, either animation or live-action; narrative or non-narrative works, and podcasts.

  • If your piece is very long, consider submitting a shorter excerpt of around ten minutes.
  • Submissions should be accompanied by a 300-word (max.) reflection on the piece.
  • Any content used in the videos must be copyright free, and all participants who appear in the video must complete a consent form for their image to be displayed as part of the DAHL Showcase. The organisers advise against minors appearing in your video, but if this is necessary you are advised to contact the competition organiser to discuss consent (please note that minors cannot give consent themselves).
  • Submissions must be free of offensive language and content, in line with Warwick Values.
  • All submissions must comply with accessibility guidelines. Therefore, the submissions must provide captions and subtitles for its content.
  • If your work includes other people, please get them to complete this formLink opens in a new window.
  • Contact Robert O'Toole if you need advice on how best to submit your work.

Digital Artefacts

May include immersive practices including VR, 360 still images, visual art, graphics, social media content, motion tracking, proxemics, binaural sound, sound walks and audio pieces.

  • If your piece is very long, consider submitting a shorter excerpt of around ten minutes.
  • Submissions should be accompanied by a 300-word (max.) reflection on the piece.
  • Any content used in the submissions must be copyright free.
  • The piece must be free of offensive content and language, in line with Warwick Values.
  • All audio submissions must comply with accessibility guidelines. Therefore, the submissions must provide captions and subtitles for its content.
  • If your work includes other people, please get them to complete this formLink opens in a new window.
  • Contact Robert if you need advice on how to submit your artefact.

Writing on Digital Themes

All essays, articles and written pieces on a digital theme.

  • Submissions must be no longer than 2,500 words. Submissions may be an excerpt of a longer piece, but must be coherent in its own right.
    • This is not a suggested length, but rather a maximum. Poetry, short stories and other written pieces are all suitable submissions and may be far shorter.
  • Submissions should be accompanied by a 300-word (max.) reflection on the piece.
  • The piece must be fully referenced.
  • The piece must be free of offensive content or language, in line with Warwick Values.

All pieces will be assessed on:

  • Originality, creativity and sophistication
  • Presentation and quality
  • Reflection

While we hope to display every piece submitted, the event has limited time and space to do so. Therefore, all submissions will be preliminarily evaluated against the criteria in order to determine if they would be showcased in the event.

*The copyright of each prize-winning and commended piece will remain with the author but the Faculty of Arts retains the right in perpetuity to publish and/or broadcast the work submitted.