One afternoon, a middle schooler from Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., snapped a photo of her drawing and transmitted it online, harboring no major expectations. However, her artwork skyrocketed to fame in no time, being handpicked as one of the nine victorious entries for a contest conducted by the Michigan Department of State. Social media and national TV broadcasts abounded with this piece of art, however, she claimed it to be far from politically motivated.
Jane, a junior high school student, wanted her drawing to earmark elements of humor and levity against the austere backdrop of voting. She sought to spark a light-hearted distraction to the typically serious subject matter. Drawing has been a part of Jane’s life since she was a little girl of four years, doodling on her parents’ iPad, and her artistic journey has since taken her across varied artistic mediums such as beaded ornaments and paper folding creations.
Despite her creative instincts, Jane admitted to having initial doubts about participating in the competition when her instructor invited the students to partake in it. She thought her work might not stand out amid the multitude of entries, yet, the lure of creativity overruled passive TV watching of ‘National Treasure,’ and she found herself penning down doodles.
Jane anticipated her competitors to take a more traditional route with their designs, leaning heavily on Michigan’s native symbols, such as lighthouses and white-tailed deer. She, however, aimed for the unique and came up with an idea of a werewolf, a singular thought that she brought to life in less than an hour.
Jane’s unusual submission joined the amassed pool of more than 480 designs submitted in the timeframe of May to June, as stated by the Michigan Department of State. As it turned out, Michigan’s competition took shape relying heavily on the precedence of similar creative battles in other states.
Zena Aljilehawi, the chair of the college student-led task force, shared that they hoped for the competition in Michigan to garner as unique entries as in Kentucky and New York, with entries ranging from humanoid lizards to multicolored human head over turquoise legs.
The contest outlined a nimble set of rules, calling for designs that echo the statement, ‘I Voted’ and for participants to offer their creativity whilst refraining from political bias and reliance on artificial intelligence tools. While Jane was unaware of this, Aljilehawi and her task force intuitively felt that her werewolf satirical design had a strong shot at winning.
A wave of excitement reverberated through Aljilehawi’s task force as their predictions came true. It sparked different interpretative discussions- some likened the werewolf to Michigan’s famous folklore creature, the Dogman while Aljilehawi preferred to resonate it with notions of freedom and a rock-and-roll vibe.
As comments from Angela Benander, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of State, reveal, the design was perceived as refreshingly unrestrained, an appropriate illustration that mirrors our changeable world. The playful twist that the sticker conveyed also seemed to resonate with the current crazed milieu.
Mystery unveiled for Jane when her social studies teacher broke the news of Jane’s drawing making it into the semi-finals, a critical contest step where voters get the chance to decide the winners. Jane found herself suddenly in the midst of anticipation and uncertainty, as she waited for the results.
Imagine her astonishment when she discovered she had won the contest while she had been enjoying a swim in Lake Huron. She could hardly believe it when she was informed that her design had collected a mammoth count of 20,000 votes, a clear leader by about 2,000 votes than any other submission.
Other winners included a myriad of eclectic designs encapsulating the spirit of voting- a feline with an ‘I VOTED’ sign, a stylish deer donning shades, a proud lighthouse glowing with ‘I VOTED’. Some even played with the language like an endearing handwritten ‘I Voted yay’ with an inverted ‘e’, to a localized touch of the Midwest with, ‘OPE, I VOTED’.
Jane’s celeb-status escalated when her design started appearing on her classmates’ social media feeds, courtsey of the Michigan Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, who cheekily captioned Jane’s drawing as, ‘Walking into general election season like.’ Her design was glorified further when John Oliver, popular for his show ‘Last Week Tonight,’ joked about repeating voting to obtain multiple copies of Jane’s sticker.
Angela Benander expects a high demand for the werewolf design so much so that the stock might extinguish quickly. Gathering mixed interpretation but definite adulation, Jane wants her art to ensue happiness and pride among voters who would be vocal about it through the sticker on their chest on the day of voting.