2023 UCLA CKS "Comfort Women" Creative Project Contest

"Taken Away" by Soon-duk Kim @ comfortwomeneducation.org

Through this creative project contest, CKS aims to educate the UCLA community on ongoing issues pertaining to “comfort women” from Korea, Taiwan, China, the Philippines, and elsewhere, who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Pacific War.

We are pleased to announce the inaugural UCLA Center for Korean Studies "Comfort Women" Creative Project Contest.

In 2022, the Center for Korean Studies announced a gift to create a permanent endowment to support creative projects by UCLA students and faculty, together with an online archive, research and programming. Please see the related article on the CKS "comfort women" creative arts projects.

Please read these instructions carefully and note the embedded links to access additional information.

Submission period and timeline: 

The submission period will close on Sunday, May 7, 2023 at 11:59 pm. Finalists will be announced on or by May 22, 2023, and the awards ceremony will be on Wednesday, May 31 at 3 pm. Students need not be present at the awards ceremony to win. We hope to display select submissions in-person and digitally. Please check this page for more information as it becomes available.

Eligibility:

Any undergraduate student who is enrolled full-time at UCLA in Spring Quarter 2023. Each student is limited to one entry per year, but submissions may have more than one component (ex: mixed media).

Preparation:

Students must be familiar with the “comfort women” topic, as their creative project must demonstrate their understanding of the issues. Students are to read this brief article on "comfort women" to familiarize themselves with the topic:

Beverly Milner (Lee) Bisland, Jinmin Kim, and Sunghee Shin, “Teaching about the Comfort Women during World War II and the Use of Personal Stories of the Victims,” in Education about Asia 24 no 3 (Winter 2019), https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/teaching-about-the-comfort-women-during-world-war-ii-and-the-use-of-personal-stories-of-the-victims/.

Scope of creative project:

Each work must address the “comfort women” issue in some way. Submissions may be visual art (such as drawing, painting, print, textiles, sculpture, ceramics, photography, film, video of performance), literature (poetry, prose, or video of spoken word), or multimedia format. Videos must be under 10 minutes in length. Please contact Dr. Jennifer Jung-Kim at jungkim@ucla.edu if you wish to propose a format not mentioned here. Each submission must be accompanied by a completed and signed  release form including a brief explanation of the work (100 words or less) and brief bio (50 words or less). 

Submission rules:

Please upload your work in digital format to the "Comfort Women" contest submission page. All submissions must be original work of the student, and any music clips or other copyrighted data must be credited and used lawfully under the educational use permission clause. Be sure to also upload a completed and signed release form.

Should you  be selected as a finalist, you may be asked to submit original artwork to exhibit, if it is in a medium that can be exhibited. Digital art will be exhibited in digital form. All original work will be available for pickup after the exhibition period. 

Use of creative work:

CKS reserves the right to use any submission or its likeness for educational purposes, such as exhibition, digital image on a website, or in print form. CKS will not monetize the use of submissions or use it for a commercial profit. Students retain ownership over their creative project.

Prizes:

The number of finalists selected will depend on the number of entries. Award prizes will also be awarded to eligible winners: 1 first prize of $500. 2 second prizes of $300 each, and 2 third prizes of $150 each. Award prizes will be disbursed through UCLA Financial Aid, so students must be eligible to receive awards, and any hold on their account may bar disbursement of funds. Additional non-monetary prizes will also be awarded, with the exact number depending on the total number of entries. 

Questions:

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Jennifer Jung-Kim, jungkim@ucla.edu.

Published: Friday, March 10, 2023