2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

Language Arts

 

Unraveling Literacy — A Triptych of Short Digital Stories about ...Writing

This is a challenge that asks you to play with our ever-emerging understanding of ‘writing.’ There are numerous new literacies out there – ways of communicating that are mainstream. Texting. TikToks. Instagram Stories. Photographic Essays. Vlogs. Stop Motion. Twitter Debates. The list goes on. In this Challenge you are going to pick three of different literacies and tell three 60 second stories about the same idea. What are these stories about? Writing and its myriad components. Your choices are: Literary Devices (Foreshadowing, Irony, or Metaphor), Archetypal Characters (the hero, the outlaw, or the ruler) and Literary Genres (Comedy, Tragedy, or Mythology). Pick one of these. Pick three literacies. And then explore how each literacy allows you to discover new ways to express an idea.

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2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

STEAM

 

The Graphic Tale of an Environmental Law - A Graphic Short Story

In this Challenge, you will create a (maximum) 20-frame chapter of a graphic novel in which you feature a character whose story leads him/her to propose a new environmental law. But there’s a small catch: the image of a bicycle must appear in every other frame of your chapter in some way! It can be obvious or partially hidden, but it must be there. Now, go ahead and make the world a better place …starting with a bicycle!

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2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

History

 

Designing and Pitching Public Art

Create a pitch film that is targeted toward the local school board about the design and creation of a new work of public art that will be displayed on school grounds. The public art should be designed to reflect the identity of your school and the history of your community, as well as engage the youth of your community in a positive and thought-provoking way. This Challenge begins with research: research about what the community wants; what the Administration wants; what kind of ‘public art’ might work in a school setting and where this work should be displayed. The design needs to reflect at least three different elements of the history or character of your school and your team must include at least one interview in the pitch.

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2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

Language Arts

 

Finding Humor Amidst Darkness - A Pandemic/Ukrainian/[Fill in the Blank]-infused Comedy

For many, one of the best weapons we have at our disposal to combat anxiety is …humor. Humor – particularly ‘dark humor’ which is about finding ‘funny’ amidst the ‘unpleasant’– can help people cope with the anxiety and fear of a stressful situation. In this challenge, create a short digital story that features some humor about this extremely challenging time in our lives, … and help bring a little laughter into the world.

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2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

History 

 

Historical Paintings and the Stories They Tell - A Dramatic Re-imagining

One critical source of historical knowledge comes from the period illustrations. Each illustration – from portraits to battle scenes; family gatherings to famous moments in history – when analyzed, reveals telling details about attitudes, status, traditions, emotional states, fashion trends, and, above all, in the pre-photographic age, what people really looked like, famous and otherwise. In this Challenge, you will select a picture from a time or moment in history that you are studying and bring to life one, two or three characters from that illustration. As they figuratively step out of the frame, they will tell us the story of the picture. The stories may be based on historical knowledge if the illustration is meant to document a seminal historical moment, or made up, based on your research into the period about what these people might be …posing for, or doing later that afternoon. The best place to start this Challenge may be with a visit to …your nearby art museum.

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2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

STEAM 

 

Chemical Calamity! Physical Force Flummox! - A Radio Drama 

Someone from the science lab rushes out wide-eyed, saying, “Somebody help! Something happened in the lab!” But how could that have happened and who can help them solve this mystery??!! In this challenge, it is your task to both set up the problem AND to solve it. The solution must involve either 2-3 well-explained chemical reactions of some sort, or it must involve 2-3 physical forces (e.g. gravity, electric, magnetic) OR, it can involve both.

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2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

Language Arts

 

Shakespearean Soliloquy Shake Up - A Dramatic Re-invention

Friends, Romans Countrymen, lend me your ears: Meridian comes to assign soliloquies, not monologues. For the soliloquies of Shakespeare live after him and the monologues are interred with his bones. Welcome to the Shakespearean Soliloquy Shake-Up in which you will produce a video of your whole team performing a re-imagined and rewritten soliloquy from Shakespeare.

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2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

STEAM 

 

Your Fiscal Superhero - A Cautionary Tale about Money ...with Superpowers 

Your team is challenged to create a story in which the superhero spreads awareness about financial literacy. The purpose of this story is to educate your peers on the importance of smart spending, budgeting, low-risk investing, and saving. Bank notes. Risk. Cryptocurrency. Binge Shopping. Investment assessment. …these are the narrative elements that can bring your Superhero Story to life. And because this is a superhero story, there must be a villain! Now, go create that cautionary tale!

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2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

History 

 

Global Team Building - A Pitch 

Since its inception, the United Nations Security Council has had five permanent member countries: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. With their veto authority, each of these permanent members carries enormous power over U.N. deliberations. The world has changed significantly since the end of World War II when the U.N. was formed, and the victors granted themselves permanent seats and veto authority. Your challenge is to propose a new and improved U.N. Security Council, by suggesting one …or two countries you think could be added to the current group of five. There’s a small catch: you have a total of two minutes in front of the security council. Should you use that time to argue for one country? Two? Present them as an inseparable pair? You choose.

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2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

Language Arts

 

It's a Mystery! Literally

The mystery literary genre is one of the most disciplined and exacting forms of storytelling in the world. And for exactly that reason, it’s also one of the most popular and compelling. In short: it’s a blast. In this Challenge, you will set up a mystery and begin to lead us down a path shaped by suspense and disbelief, toward resolution. Characters, setting, motives, red herrings, suspects, and clues will abound, fully re-imagined. To bring this all to a fast conclusion, in the last thirty seconds, you will jump to the final page of the story, dissolve the cinematic world that you have created, and read us the resolution, as if we had all just turned to the final page of your story. …and one more thing. There are two categories of entry for this: This can be a video digital story or an audio digital story: a radio drama. Your call.

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2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

STEAM

 

Python Playtime — Coding Old Video Games Plus a Story to Tell 

For this challenge, you will choose a pre-existing video game – one that reaches back in time a decade (or two or three) – and work to recreate it yourself through open-source coding. The deliverable here is a documentary that covers your process for re-creating the game and a story about the game itself: what role did it play in society and the emergence of gaming and computer science.

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2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

History 

 

Justice Triumphs - A (musical) Court Room Drama 

The court room drama is a story that is told about a good guy, who is often a little powerless, going up against a bad guy, who holds the power. In this Challenge, you are going to discover a moment in history where justice prevailed (against all odds) – in court – and re-tell that story. There will be just three main characters: the two opposing lawyers and the judge. The team can add witnesses and other sundry characters, but essentially this asks you to present the arguments that each side put forward and then summarize the judge’s final judgment. Oh, and one more thing. The final verdict must be …sung.

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2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

History 

 

TikTok Democracy - A TikTok Celebrating a Historic Moment in Democracy

American democracy is a hot topic. The turmoil that continues to unfold around the 2020 elections has created a lively debate around the essence and preservation of democracy in the US and elsewhere. Pick a moment in the history of the US where our democratic institutions were upheld, strengthened and/or fortified; imperiled and re-defined, and create a celebratory TikTok about that moment.

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2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

STEAM

 

A Little Goes a Long Way - A Sustainable Vlog

Don’t litter! Recycle that! Turn off the lights when you leave the room! How many times do you hear these phrases? Your task is to create a vlog-style video taking your audience through a day in your life where you emphasize the environmentally friendly actions you take. You also must find three new environmentally friendly actions to do that you would not normally think of over the course of your day. Action. Repeat. Discover. Repeat – take us inside your daily journey of sustainability.

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2022 — 2023 Meridian Stories Competitions

Language Arts

 

Extending Literature: A News report about the Next Chapter

Imagine you are on a news show reporting on the events that take place just after the novel, play or short story you just read, ended. In other words, you are adding a new chapter or scene, and relaying this information in a news report. The news report will begin with a brief summary of what has just occurred – kind of like a previous episode summary that you see on serialized TV – and then dive into the new developments with your main characters and their world. Your cast will feature an anchor, an interviewer and one to three characters from the work of literature.

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