Participants must be currently enrolled as graduate students at Oregon State University. The competition deadline is April 14, 2025. Participants will be notified about the results in mid May.

Display the sources you’ve been finding for your thesis, articles, or other scholarly work in a creative, visual way. Submissions must include at least 20 sources used in a bibliography that contributes in a substantial way to a thesis, dissertation, or other scholarly work. Sources may alternatively come from bibliographies for coursework (e.g., annotated bibliographies or literature reviews), early drafts of literature reviews (not written as part of a class), or from students' published articles (as applicable). There is no upper limit for the number of sources that may be used.

Participants should observe best practices in terms of requesting permissions for use of materials, images, or audiovisual components as applicable. In addition, note that while generative AI tool use is not prohibited in this competition, the reviewer rubric rewards original creativity.

Participants must also submit a brief description of the rationale behind the arrangement and display of their sources, as well as a short description of their overall research project to help provide context for the sources used. If you do use generative AI tools to create your visualization, include specific information about the tool used, how much of your work was AI generated, and how much you interacted with or edited the output in your artist's rationale statement.

This rationale and description should be no more than 1 page, single-spaced. Participants should also submit the original bibliography from which the sources are drawn. 

See the sample submissions page for examples of possible submissions. 

Submissions will be evaluated based on the originality of the representations used for the sources, the unique surfacing of the relationships between sources, the connections participants are able to draw between their current work and past research, as well as on the visualization's ability to convey interesting insights about the research process or the specific field of research. 

1st prize: $750**

2nd prize: $500

3rd prize: $250

**Awards will be given as scholarships for the 2025 Spring or Summer Term. If you have an assistantship or some other form of funding, your OSU account will be credited, and you will receive a check for the prize amount.

How to Submit Your Visualization

Digital entries may be submitted via this Google Form by April 14. (Please note - the entry form is a Google Form set to allow access to students logged in with their OSU Google accounts.)

Competition entries may be submitted in a variety of formats. We do not want to limit your creativity by limiting the types of files you can submit. Google Forms will allow you to upload file types including documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, videos, presentations, drawings, images, and audio. You can also submit a link to an external website that hosts your submission.

Physical entries may be submitted digitally (such as by taking a photo of your submission and uploading that to the Google Form, if that works for your submission) or in person at the Valley Library. Contact Hannah Rempel at hannah.rempel@oregonstate.edu if you wish to drop off a physical visualization. 

Information You'll Need to Provide on the Form

1. A description of the tools used: In the submission form, you will be asked to provide a brief description of the tools used to create your visualization. Include information about the medium you used (e.g., reclaimed wood, charcoal, pottery, fabric, cake) including any digital media tools used (e.g., software platform, stop motion, digital photography) and what components you either created or repurposed. Please note that while generative AI tool use is not prohibited in this competition, the reviewer rubric rewards original creativity. If you do use generative AI tools to create your visualization, include specific information about the tool used, how much of your work was AI generated, and how much you interacted with or edited the output in your artist's rationale statement.

2. A high quality image (or the physical item): All participants (not just winners) are invited to have their work displayed in the competition gallery after the awards are announced. Therefore, please be sure to submit the highest quality files possible in any digital submissions to ensure good image quality in the gallery display.

3. A 1-page rationale and written bibliography supporting your visualization. See the Competition Rules and Guidelines for more information about what to include in this document.

If you have any questions, contact Hannah Rempel at hannah.rempel@oregonstate.edu