How will your spine story stack up? (Photography by Nathan Keay)
Title fight
We’re looking for readers with the spines to stack up against the competition in the Magazine’s latest contest.
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but can a few words make a telling picture? Inspired by artist Nina Katchadourian’s Sorted Books project, the Magazine is challenging readers to head to their bookshelves and find out. Here’s how the contest works: comb through your books and select a group of titles that, when arranged in a stack and the spines read from top to bottom, tell their own mini story. (See the example above created by senior development writer Jeanie Chung.) Send a photo of your story to the Magazine. It’s that quick. Or not—the staffers who test-drove the contest spent hours buried in books. Either way, it’s a lot of fun.  

Contest basics

Winning stories will appear in the Sept–Oct/13 University of Chicago Magazine; all entries will be featured on the Magazine’s Facebook page. The prizes, courtesy of the University of Chicago Press: $200 in book credits for the winner; $100 for the runner-up; and a Chicago Manual of Style tote bag for honorable mention(s). E-mail a high-resolution JPEG photo of your finished story to uchicago-magazine@uchicago.edu, with “Title fight” in the subject line. All entries must arrive by midnight Sunday, August 4—no excuses, no extensions. Remember to include your name; degree and degree year (if applicable); contact information (phone and e-mail); and a brief description of your story. Before you point and shoot, check out a list of practical suggestions from photographer Dan Dry.  

Contest entries

Contest entries remain the property of the entrant, who agrees to grant the right to first publish the entry in the University of Chicago Magazine and on its website and the right to publish the material in advertising and promotion of the University of Chicago Magazine and the University of Chicago.