The pandemic derailed our traditional awards ceremony, but the videoconference version turned out to be just as powerful and just as inspiring. For the first time family members from across the country and beyond were able to be present. Once again extraordinary young authors and artists show us new perspectives on work with their creative and thoughtful fiction, poetry and visual art. Many of them talk about work that is too often unseen, from the front lines of the new economy where precarious service jobs reign. Their efforts fulfill the goal of this CUNY/LaborArts contest—to expand student thinking about the history of work, and to provide opportunities to make links between individual lived experience and larger social issues.

Briana Calderon-Navarro’s installation and video art piece “Chasing Threads Home” is but one example.

There are a short narrative and a video about creating the installation. She writes:

My objective is to visually identify the way capitalism treats the other. These textiles remind me that the United States welcomes the labor of Latinx people into its economy, while simultaneously enforcing immigration policies that dehumanize working-class people of Hispanic origin.

We sincerely hope that these young authors and artists continue on with their work—their voices demand to be heard.

Now in its tenth year, the contest is open to all CUNY undergraduates. Entries are judged according to originality, content and style. Guidelines used for this 2019-2020 contest are here. Student writers and artists draw upon history, their close observation of the world around them, and a wealth of first hand experiences to link their work to the spirit of labor arts. Every year professors judging the contest reflect on the value of providing opportunities for the students to seriously interrogate their own life experiences and that of those around them.

All photographs courtesy of student awardees.

Background & Credits

The CUNY/Labor Arts contest aims to give students credit for thinking and writing and making art about labor history, broadly defined, and is open to any undergraduate attending a CUNY college. Begun in 2010, it encourages students to write creatively and analytically about work and workers, to make art about work and workers, and to link their efforts to the spirit of LaborArts.

We would like to thank all of the students who submitted work for the 2019–20 contest, and to congratulate the authors of the prize-winning essays and poems and the creators of the visual art featured in this exhibit. All CUNY students are encouraged to begin considering possible themes for entries in next year’s contest. Guidelines for the 2020–21 contest will be available in fall 2020; the guidelines used for this contest can be found here.

The contest is sponsored by LaborArts, with major funding from the Workforce Development Institute, and additional support from the Consortium for Worker Education. It was organized this year by Rachel Bernstein and Evelyn Jones Rich (LaborArts) and Patrick Kavanagh (CUNY).

Special thanks to the judges: Betty Cole (Visual Art), Professor Matt Arnold (Poetry), Adjunct Professor Drew Pham (Fiction) and Director of Graduate Studies Patrick Kavanagh (Non-Fiction). Many thanks to the Brooklyn College Graduate Center for Worker Education’s director Lucas Rubin and his extraordinary staff, including Mohammed Hossain and Anselma Rodriguez; to the staff in Director Kavanagh’s office, particularly Arelis Berroa; and to LaborArts interns Shanika Carlies and Lisa Komilova.

Due to the pandemic, a virtual Awards Ceremony was held on April 28, 2020. All photographs are courtesy of the student awardees.