Welcome to Captivate: U of T Scarborough Library’s Annuall Digital Storytelling Competition with The BRIDGE. Create a short digital story—a video, podcast, website, or another format—that tells YOUR story, and compete to win cash prizes.
How to sign up?
Register for the competition here by September 30, 2023.
This initiative honours Sandford Borins, Professor Emeritus of Public Management, who was a faculty member of the Department of Management at U of T Scarborough from 1990 to 2020.
Learn key skills every student and new graduate needs, including how to:
- Engage audiences with innovative, compelling content.
- Work with digital tools and diverse teams.
- Structure stories that entertain, educate, and resonate emotionally.
- Understand the storyteller’s role in advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Learn from expert storytellers
Competition Overview
| Date | Event | Description | Location |
| Wed Sept 20, 2 pm - 4 pm | Competition Kick-off; The Art of Digital Storytelling | Learn from amazing guest speakers and professional storytellers, enjoy tasty food, and get all the details for how to join the competition. Registration is required. | Catalyst Center, EV Ground Floor |
| Sept 20 - Oct 18 | UTSC Library Digital Storytelling Portal | Learn the fundamentals of digital storytelling at your own pace with the UTSC Library's Essentials of Digital Storytelling module. Topics such as accessibility, copyright, video/podcast editing will also be included! | Virtual, self-paced |
| Sept 22, 11 am - 1 pm | Telling Accessible Digital Stories | Captivate ALL audiences by learning how to make your content accessible! In this workshop, you will gain skills to remove access barriers for digital content consumers. |
The BRIDGE, IC Ground Floor (Recording available after the workshop) ATTENDANCE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED |
| Sept 28, 3 pm - 4 pm | Need help making your story accessible? | Attend this virtual drop-in and ask your accessibility questions. | Virtual, optional |
| Oct 4, 2 pm - 3 pm | Need help on your story? | Drop in to work on your project. If you have questions about a particular tool, such as concept mapping, storyboarding, sketching, storymaps, or audio or video editing tools, we are here to help! | The BRIDGE, IC Ground Floor, optional |
| Oct 4, 3 - 4 pm | Need help making your story accessible? | Attend this virtual drop-in and ask your accessibility questions. | Virtual, optional |
| Oct 18 11:59 pm | SUBMISSION DEADLINE | Submit your creation in the UTSC Library Digital Storytelling Portal. | Online via Quercus |
| Nov 8 2 pm - 4 pm | Captivate Final Presentation & Awards Ceremony | From the top 5 to the top 3, our judges will evaluate the digital stories, provide meaningful feedback and select the winners! | Catalyst Center, EV Ground Floor |
Awards and Prizes!
Winners of the Captivate competition will receive the Sandford Borins Award in Digital Communications along with the following prizes:
- First Place
- Have your story featured on U of T social media channels and gain exposure!
- $400 gift certificate
- Second Place
- Have your story featured on U of T social media channels and gain exposure!
- $200 gift certificate
- Third Place
- Have your story featured on U of T social media channels and gain exposure!
- $100 gift certificate
Competition Guidelines
Submission Requirements
All submissions must meet the following requirements to be eligible for the competition prizes:
- Submitted by October 18, 11:59 pm
- Must contain additional files to support accessibility. Submissions without the appropriate files will not be eligible for inclusion in our digital collections. For audio and video files, you must submit a .webvtt file, which is a file format containing time codes and text. For images and other submissions, you must submit a text description of the content appropriate for an individual using a screen reader.
- By submitting your work, you (the author(s) or copyright owner) grants to University of Toronto the non-exclusive right to reproduce, translate (as defined below), and/or distribute your submission worldwide in print and electronic format and in any medium, including but not limited to audio or video.
- By submitting your work, you represent that the submission is your original work, and that you have the right to grant the rights contained in this license. You also represent that your submission does not, to the best of your knowledge, infringe upon anyone's copyright.
- By submitting your work, you acknowledge that U of T will clearly identify your name(s) as the author(s) or owner(s) of the submission, and will not make any alteration, other than as allowed by this license, to your submission.
| Medium | Length | File formats | Examples |
| Video | Max 3 minutes | ,mov, .mp4, .mkv | short film, video interview, music video |
| Audio | Max 3 minutes | .mp3, .mp4, .avi, .wav | song, podcast, audio recording |
| Images | N/A | .jpeg, .jpg, .png, .tiff, .pdf | image, collage, infographic |
| Presentation | Max 3 minutes to view | .pptx, .pdf | Slideshow |
| Websites | Max 3 minutes to view | .url | ARCGIS Storymaps, web application, website, link to video |
| Other | Other formats must be pre-approved. Contact us! |
View the Rubric used for judging participants: "Judge's Scorecard"
