At the second annual Inspire Awards on Monday, audience members watched short videos about what inspires those around them.
The video contest, sponsored by socially conscious campus organization Inspire Media, accepted 3- to 5-minute submissions from any individual or student group on campus. Winners were selected by the executive board and the audience at the event in Harris Hall, 1881 Sheridan Road.
The awards originated last year as a purely online contest. This year, Inspire advertised via social media but included a live component to showcase submissions. About 35 people attended the event.
“We wanted to take it into the real world while still using the social media aspect,” said Medill sophomore Alison Decker, Inspire’s vice president of advocacy and awareness. “We thought it’d be a fun way to present the awards and give Northwestern a chance to dress up for a classy event.”
Tufaan Entertainment, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness of South Asian culture and promoting education in the arts abroad, was chosen as the winner of the Most Inspiring award by the Inspire Media executive board. The award also came with a $300 prize. Tufaan’s video portrayed underprivileged Indian children enjoying life despite their unfavorable surroundings.
Those in the crowd gave the Viewer’s Choice award to NU Gives Back, a group that organized a campus-wide day of service as part of its mission to positively impact the Evanston community.
The group’s president, sophomore Kira Hooks, said the honor was “really unexpected.”
She said the $300 that accompanies the award will most likely go to toward NU Gives Back 2012.
“If it doesn’t go toward one of the community service sites, it’ll go toward our actual production costs, getting NU Gives Back 2012 up and running for 450 students,” Hooks said.
Weinberg sophomore Mark Silberg created his video submission in less than 24 hours. The GREEN House resident used stock footage, photographs and his own narration to promote the residential college’s chosen charity, The Freshwater Institute. Silberg said he wanted to raise recognition for the hard work GREEN House residents have done to promote the charity. Although Silberg’s submission was not selected for an award, he said he thinks the event could be an important part of socially conscious campus culture.
“I can see this blossoming into something bigger,” Silberg said.
Decker said she looked for passion in the videos when judging which one deserved the award.
“It’s always a good thing if there’s some beautiful photography in the video,” she said. “But I think the most important thing is how passionate you feel afterwards about the social issue that the person is talking about.”
Jessica Smasal, sophomore and vice president of advocacy and awareness, said she thought the event was “great”.
“I really liked how we had both the films and the performers,” Smasal said. “Maybe next year we can even do more performers.”
Inspire Media also sponsors other functions and projects. Each year the group supplies $1,500 to the person with the best idea for a narrative or documentary on any social issue.
The grant is then presented at the annual Inspire Symposium, a two-day event in May that highlights socially aware media, complete with speeches and media classes by professional directors, producers and reporters.
