The ELA Honor Society’s winter challenges and competitions encouraged student members to showcase their creativity while incorporating elements of literature into their artwork. Read on to find out more about the winners of the Book Bento Creative Challenge and the T-Shirt Design Competition.
Winter Book Bento Creative Challenge Winners
The ELA Honor Society is proud to announce that the winners of the Winter Creative Challenge for Students are Addyson Gaudet from Morgan Road Middle School, NY; Eva Dimitrova-Mullen from Christa McAuliffe School PS 28, NJ; David Castoire from Christa McAuliffe School PS 28, NJ; and Alize Butt from Beverly Hills Middle School, PA.
The evaluation team was highly impressed with Addyson, Eva, David, and Alize’s book bento designs, which focused on a selection of interesting texts they have been reading both within and outside of class.
A book bento is a visually appealing, flat-lay photograph that showcases a book surrounded by carefully arranged objects related to its themes, characters, setting, or mood. Inspired by Japanese bento boxes, which neatly compartmentalize food, book bentos create a curated aesthetic that enhances the book’s essence.
Addyson Gaudet
My Book Bento is based on the young adult fantasy novel, Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas. For my first material, I chose salt to represent the Endovier Salt Mines where the main character, Celaena, worked in slavery for almost a year before the Crown Prince chose her as his Champion. The glass goblet represents that which was used to poison Celanea during her final duel, compromising her fighting skills and almost making her lose against her competitor in the end. The piece of wood strongly represents Nehemia’s wooden staff, given to Celaena right before her final duel and symbolizing that she is willing to fight with the rebels and against Adarlan’s King. The amulet closely resembles the Eye of Elena, an amulet given to Celaena by the first queen Elena, to protect her from otherworldly harm. The shards of glass represent the towering glass castle and the king’s throne of glass, showing how indestructible his empire is because of all his horrible doings.
Eva Dimitrova-Mullen
For my Book Bento Challenge submission, I chose objects that I believe to be significant to the plot of the story. The first object that I included was a glass with ice in it to represent the feel of a vampire’s skin, which in the story is extremely cold to the touch. Also, the skin feels very hard and durable, so I chose a pile of stones to represent how unbreakable their skin is. Next, I included an image of a faded, old Chevy truck, which the main character, Bella, owns. Her dad, who got it from a dear friend of his, gifted it to her. Then, I included a cell phone opening the email app, to represent Bella’s long-distance correspondence with her mother. The last object I included was a map of Washington State, where most of the story takes place. Bella’s mom lives in Arizona, but Bella moves away to live with her father in a small, cloudy town in Washington, so that her mom can travel with her boyfriend for his job. Also, as the background, I used old, worn paper, to represent the actual age of the vampires in the story.
David Castoire
For the Book Bento Challenge, I decided to choose the book Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End, which takes place during the COVID-19 quarantine. The first items I selected were the toy troops and the animal puzzle. The troops resemble the main character’s father’s interest in the First World War: he has his family join in an in-person recreation of the war in their basement. The puzzle represents the main character being forced to hang out with his baby brother because they have been locked into the house because of the virus. The tickets for the Thrills & Spills water park symbolize the character being desperate to get out of the house and do something other than stay at home. The skunk represents one of the challenges they face on their trips, which was a large part of this book. The water gun shows another conflict in the book and the map and towel represent the fact that the main character’s trip to a water park with his family was the focus of the plot.
Alize Butt
In my Book Bento about Monster by Walter Dean Myers, I chose to include a journal, camera, watch, and mirror as they highlight important symbols and aspects of Steve Harmon’s character. For example, the journal represents his way of processing the events surrounding him. Throughout the novel, Steve writes journal entries as a way to express his emotions and experiences. You can feel that writing in this journal most likely serves as his coping mechanism, allowing him to differentiate the trial and his life. The camera relates to Steve’s dream of being a filmmaker. He views the trial like a movie, as if he is directing a film. This ties into the way the book is formatted, like a movie, illustrating how Steve perceives the trial. The watch represents the time he spent on trial, which is crucial to the story. It highlights the time Steve waits for the outcome, and knowledge of whether he will be freed or convicted. Lastly, the mirror represents Steve’s internal struggle with his identity. In both the opening and closing scenes, Steve looks at himself in the mirror, questioning whether he truly is the “monster” he had been described as. It portrays his self-doubt and confusion about himself and the trial.
T-Shirt Design Competition Winners
The ELA Honor Society is thrilled to announce the winners of the Student T-Shirt Design Competition! Congratulations to Leah Jackstadt, Jack Schlegel, and Kaylee Hepburn from Morgan Road Middle School in NY.
Student members were tasked with designing a T-shirt that includes an ELA Honor Society mascot for 2024-2025. The T-shirt design was required to include literary references. Student members had to think carefully about their design and provide a written justification for it.
Leah Jackstadt
For my T-shirt competition submission, I used different design elements to help catch your eye. The elements I used are line, shape, value, size, and color. For the shape element I put the ELA Honor Society logo on the front of the shirt for a simpler look. Then I added some more complex designs. I used the value element in my design with the text on the shirt which is a gradient of the colors that are the same as the ELA Honor Society logo. I matched the colors from the logo and made them into a mixed gradient of colors on the text then added the black outline to make the colors pop more than they already were. I tried to make my shirt unique but also simple. I incorporated literature by including an inspirational quote about reading. I hope it caught your eye!
Jack Schlegel
My submission for the T-shirt contest is a Leopard with different types of figurative language named on it, as well as spots to make it clear that it is a Leopard. This design will work well for the ELA Honor Society because it is inclusive of different literary topics while, at the same time, presenting a promotable mascot that will have influence on the program in the future. This design could be associated with the honor society for years to come. I produced this because I have great interest in using figurative language in my writing. Figurative language enhances writing by allowing me to include similes or metaphors, or by giving an inanimate object person-like traits. Figurative language has such a big influence on how we read and write, and I feel as if it is important to include it in the T-shirt design.
Kaylee Hepburn
The T-shirt I designed is a design that is amazing for the ELA Honor Society, having many literary references and a purpose to its design. The main focus of the image is the owl that is in the center. Owls are a symbol of knowledge, which is an important skill to have when focusing on the English language. The colors of the owl are meant to represent a pencil, which is an important tool to have when participating in activities in literature. The owl has a graduation cap, which you receive once you complete school. In the ELA Honor Society, we focus on the study of literature, and knowing about literature is required in order to be able to graduate. All these elements combined make my image a perfect design!
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