2025 September Winners

Thank you to everyone for your support and/or participation in this contest. It could not have happened without your support! I look forward to seeing you in the next one :-)

The 2025 September Art Contest theme was Here, Once Again: "Here we are. Slipping into a new season that is so familiar. Here we are again, standing in a place we’ve stood before, but as different people. A lot of life is uncertain, but we can always count on the certainty in the return of a season. Whether we enjoy the fall or not, we can always rely on it returning.

So we fall into a familiar time with unfamiliar faces, rhythms, and patterns.

This month, explore what it means to be in such a familiar place with a different self than the one you were last year. The season is recurring, but the changes we’ve gone through are not. The leaves will fall once again, but they may fall in different places this time.

What changes have you gone through since last season? How do you represent yourself returning to a familiar place as a different person? What does it truly mean to be here, once again?"

I had fun and hope you did too. I look forward to the next contest and seeing everyone's work. Until then, enjoy these talented winning pieces!

Winners

First Place - Emily Liu

Speleothem

Last year around this time, I started my master's degree in writing, and I'll be graduating this December. In that time I went from worrying whether I was capable of being a professional writer, to knowing that I'm literally doing it; I wanted to look back on how my thoughts changed as I slowly came to trust myself more. I'm not perfect with confidence yet, and maybe I'll never be, but I'm trying to remember that that's okay too.

Letter size paper @emilyyliu23

Second Place - Jeyme Zavaleta Muñoz

Flourishing

Good or bad? We measure our experience by these two words until we develop more complex expressions. Running away or actively perusing confrontation seems to be my unit of measurement these days. The weight of the experience is gently placed on two sides of one scale, it takes time to process in order to divide the weight evenly. When you experience the stillness of life, do you take a moment to rest? Do you dwell on the past or the future? The good or the bad?

9" x 12" @Jemzzz444

Third Place - Muskaan Singh

Here, Once Again

It’s about the certainty of the season and the uncertainty of me , the world repeats, but I never return as the same person.

1080p, pdf @Mus.kaan_77