Ball State University students can win cash prizes while showcasing their most impressive work to the entire campus and community on the school Web site.
Ball State's Portfolio, a new Web site dedicated to highlighting creative and innovative student work, is accepting entries of any kind from undergraduate students until Friday, University Web Coordinator Nancy Prater said.
"I'm not seeing anything else like this on any other campus," she said. "It's really unique."
The idea has been in the works since spring and is Prater's solution to drawing more attention to students' effort and the types of projects done at Ball State.
"It will recognize the work that students do after it is graded instead of it just sitting," she said. "[The work] will tell the Ball State story."
A panel of judges will meet each month to choose one to three entries that will be featured in the monthly site update, Prater said. One faculty member from each of the seven colleges at Ball State will comprise the panel of judges.
"We're hoping and expecting to get a lot of creative work," Mary Spillman, assistant professor of journalism and one of the judges, said.
At the end of the 2006-07 school year, two cash prizes will be awarded to the best projects, Prater said. A $300 prize will go to the work online voters select, and a $500 prize will go the one chosen by the judges.
"We are looking for things that make you say 'wow'," Fred Kitchens, associate professor and one of the judges, said. "Things that go above and beyond and really stand out."
Prater said she couldn't estimate how many entries would be submitted for the December portfolio, because it will be the first one.
"I don't know how many we'll get," she said. "This is brand new; there is no precedent for this."
The contest is meant to boost pride among students at Ball State and encourage potential students to come here, Prater said.
"It will give [potential students] the opportunity to get a different window of what we do here," Tom Taylor, vice president of Enrollment, Marketing and Communications, said. "They can get a sense of what kind of education we provide."
Kitchens said he also believed this project would help to attract prospective students who want an interactive or immersive education.
"It will help point out that Ball State is a school where students get involved and get hands on experience," he said.
Students can submit their entry themselves or Ball State faculty, staff or community partners can nominate them, Prater said. Students who enter their own work must get a professor to endorse their projects. The applications can be found online at bsu.edu/portfolio.
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