TITLE: Discerning Fact from Fiction
PROMPT: How can you form an unbiased opinion of another culture without being able to travel there?
PRIZES:
DIRECTIONS: Using a well-constructed essay, other literary forms, or another digital medium altogether (work of art, video, music), reflect upon:
- How do media (social, print or online) influence one’s opinion of another culture?
- How do one’s personal interactions and connections influence impressions?
- What role does critical thinking play in informing one’s opinion of another culture?
- How can critical thinking skills be promoted in schools and encouraged in everyday life?
- How would you go about creating and disseminating a course that would enable others to discern between fact and fiction, and what would the course curriculum include?
- What resources (like the News Literacy Project) for training in verification would you recommend, and why?
- What other original insights do you have on this topic?
MULTIMEDIA GUIDELINES:
Literary Compositions can include an essay, fiction, news story, diary, interview, journal, letter exchange, poetry, podcasts, etc. Please upload the digital file per the guidelines below. If you built a website, blog or individual webpage, please do not provide links to it. Rather take a screenshot of it and submit as a PNG or, if multiple pages, save as a combined PDF document and submit.
Art Compositions can include a painting, graphic, decorative piece, sculpture, mixed media, photograph in B&W or color, collage, cartoon, etc. Please take a high-resolution digital photo or video of your entry and upload it per the guidelines below.
Music Compositions can include an original composition, performance, music video, song, instrumental recital, etc. Please keep entries under three minutes and upload digital files per the guidelines below.
Videos can include a theatrical performance, digital video, documentary, etc. Please keep entries under three minutes and keep files under 20MB in size.
NOTE: No copyrighted material allowed.
IMPORTANT NOTE: All judging will be blind to personal information such as name, school, age, etc. Please include such information on your cover sheet only, and not in the body of your submission. As with all such competitions, submissions should be in their finalized form. All submissions will be adjudicated by a panel consisting of professional writers, artists, musicians, and filmmakers based on:
TIMELINE: Contest registration form and the submission deadline for students is February 28, 2022, while winners will be announced in early April 2022.
GROUP ENTRIES: Groups of up to three are allowed. Each member should send in their personal information by submitting their own Submission Form. All group members should be listed on each Submission Form. Please only upload your lit/art/music/video entry once.
UPLOAD GUIDELINES: You will need to fill out a Submission/Registration Form that includes consent & release considerations along with the submission of your work. If you need to contact us with questions, please email Contest@albanytula.org. When you’re absolutely certain that your project is perfect, fill CLICK HERE. Thank you!
BACKGROUND: The Albany-Tula Alliance was formed in 1991 to encourage cultural, educational, and business exchanges between the greater Capital Region of New York and our sister city of Tula, Russia. Throughout the past 30 years, there have been many exchanges, each one helping everyone involved to better understand people from the other country. Unfortunately, government relations between our two countries are currently strained. Nonetheless, friends of the Alliance on both sides continue to work together as citizen diplomats. Our efforts may, over time, help to improve our governments’ relationship. This contest is part of that effort.
MORE ON CONCERT:
On March 6, 2022, Albany Pro Musica will present Sergei Rachmaninoff’s magnificent All-Night Vigil, often referred to as Vespers. This monumental work was premiered on March 23, 1915, in Moscow and consists of settings of texts taken from the Russian Orthodox Church ceremony of the same name. It has been praised as Rachmaninoff’s finest achievement and “the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox Church.” It was one of Rachmaninoff’s two favorite compositions, along with the Bells and the composer requested that its fifth movement (“Nunc Dimittis”) be sung at his funeral.
The All-Night Vigil is one of the most celebrated choral works of all time and is beloved for its mystical beauty and profound spirituality. Albany Pro Musica’s Concert Chorus will be joined onstage at the incomparable Troy Savings Bank Music Hall by celebrated guest artists Elizabeth Eschen, mezzo-soprano, and David Vanderwal, tenor.
The first half of the concert will feature favorites from the rich Russian repertoire for solo violin, including works by Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Glazunov, and Rimsky-Korsakov, performed by renowned violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn. Pitcairn performs with one of the world’s most legendary instruments, the “Red Mendelssohn” Stradivarius violin.