What does America MEME to you?

We want to know what ‘America’ means to you and are hosting a contest to help capture the amazing diversity of perspectives, experiences, and ideas of America held by MSU students.

Make a meme that says to people: ‘This is my America’ and we’ll share it with the campus community!’

Submit your meme here: https://tinyurl.com/memeamerica

Deadline for submission is 9:00am EST on February 1st, 2022

Fellow students will vote on the memes that best capture what America is for MSU students, today. The top 10 memes will win their makers $$$ prizes, a badge, free public speaking training, and eternal bragging rights. The top five of those ten will win additional $$$ and the opportunity to participate in a discussion about their memes.

AWARDS:

• Ten (10) MSU Student Meme Contest winners will receive an award of $100 gift card and will be invited to receive free public speaking training
• Five (5) of these winners will be invited to participate in a public discussion currently slated for April 6 at 6:00pm. Those who participate in “Flipping the Classroom: Montclair State Students School their Professors” will receive an ADDITIONAL $400 gift card (total prize equaling $500)
• All ten winners will be invited to a free public speaking workshop to be held in March
• Those participating in the “Experience Montclair” program will earn a badge for participating, whether they win or not!

SUGGESTED READINGS/WATCHINGS:

What Defines a Meme? (Smithsonian Magazine)
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-defines-a-meme-1904778/

Why do memes suddenly matter in politics? (Engadget)
https://www.engadget.com/2020-03-11-political-memes-michael-bloomberg.html

Are LOLCats and Internet Memes Art? (PBS Digital Studios)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9Zyswk07vg&ab_channel=PBSIdeaChannel

Know Your Meme
https://knowyourmeme.com/

Memes, Fair Use, and Privacy (The Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association)
https://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=16873

QUESTIONS?

Contact Professor Emery (emerye@montclair.edu) or Professor Kaczmarek (kaczmarekc@montclair.edu).

This contest and forum are made possible by the generous support of the Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

*All submissions to this contest will be considered public domain and will be expected to be free of copyright infringement concerns under the fair use doctrine.