4 minutes, 33 seconds contest
An homage to John Cage's landmark composition of the same name, the 4 Minutes, 33 Seconds Contest highlights University of Georgia student research in the arts. The event offers an opportunity for students to win prizes and to share their creative inquiry with peers, faculty, administrators and alumni throughout the university community. The competition is open to any graduate student or undergraduate student working on an advanced project, who is conducting research related to the literary, visual, or performing arts or artists.
The 4 Minutes, 33 Seconds Contest is part of UGA’s annual Spotlight on the Arts festival.
2024 Contest
Jiayi Guo, Michael Gray, Elizabeth Debban, and Zihan “Sandra” Lin-Nanni
Grand Prize Winner: $433
Michael Gray
TESOL and World Language Education | Advisor: Ruth Harman
“Reimagining Literacy Through Manga: A Multimodal Approach to Language Learning”
Runners-Up: $150 each
Elizabeth Debban
EdS, Art Education | Advisor: Christina Hanawalt
“Listening to Objects: New Materialism in the High School Art Classroom”
Jiayi Guo
Ph.D., Art Education | Advisor: Mira Kallio-Tavin
“Rethinking Pests: A Contemporary Art Practice Connecting Art, Science, and the Natural
World”
Zihan “Sandra” Lin-Nanni
Ph.D., Language and Literacy Education | Advisor: Dr. Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor
“An Asian Woman Educator’s Comedy Inquiry”
The 12 undergraduate and graduate student finalists selected for the 2024 contest represented a wide variety of degrees including theatre and performance studies, art education, TESOL and world language education, language and literacy education, integrative conservation, and art.
Jurors for the 2024 contest were: John P. Bray, associate professor and graduate coordinator of the Department of Theatre & Film Studies; Emily Koh, associate professor in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music; Lynn Sanders-Bustle, associate professor in the Lamar Dodd School of Art; and Ron Walcott, vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School.
The contest was coordinated by Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, Meigs Professor in the Mary Frances Early College of Education Department of Language and Literacy Education; Cicely Osborne, MFA in Dramatic Media; and David Saltz, professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Department of Theatre and Film Studies and executive director of the UGA Arts Collaborative, who also served as the master of ceremonies.
For a full list of presenters at the 2024 competition, view the program (PDF).
Student presenters received copies of the NEA Big Read feature books as part of a
grant by the Athens-Clarke County Library. The feature books are "Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi or "The Creative Ethnographer's Notebook" by Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor and Kristina Jacobsen.
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is research in the arts?
Research in the arts is a process by which we identify an inquiry and strive towards the production of new knowledge. This may be research conducted towards the synthesis of a thesis or research paper, or a creative project that you have executed at UGA or in the community.
Do I need scholarly citations on my poster or in my presentation for my project to count as "research"?
Not necessarily. Your presentation/poster could reflect a project surrounding an inquiry or problem that you have striven to solve based on experimentation. Your presentation/poster could also reflect research you have completed for a degree thesis or other research paper. Show that you have asked a critical question, developed a methodology, and shared your resulting knowledge in some way.
Is my project/research eligible?
If you had a research question about the arts, or that you sought to answer through the arts, your project is eligible for the 4'33" Spotlight on Arts Scholarship Competition. State your research questions clearly, the steps you have taken to investigate them, and the ways in which your project is innovative. If your project demonstrates critical thought and problem solving, it is eligible!
Why submit a proposal?
The UGA community wants to hear about the topics students feel are meaningful and urgent. Engage with other people doing research in the arts and make your voice heard on topics important to you. Prize winners will also receive a monetary award.
I am an undergraduate student with a unique project or research topic. Can I submit my proposal even though I am not in CURO?
Absolutely! We want to hear about all students' innovative research and projects.
What is the judging criteria?
| Judging Criteria | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Art: Submission demonstrates deep, meaningful engagement with the arts, creativity, aesthetics across the literary, visual, and performing arts categories. | |||||
| Creative Engagement between the Arts & Research: The submission makes connections between artistic practices and development of a theoretical framework, research methodology, data analysis and/or findings with implications for a specific field of inquiry. | |||||
| Research: Submission demonstrates deep, meaningful engagement with inquiry, showcasing research questions and/or engagement in theoretical foundations or disciplinary expertise in a non-arts field including the sciences (e.g. chemistry, engineering); humanities (e.g. philosophy, history, literature); social sciences (e.g. education, social work). Presentation of theory and inquiry done with professional attention and clarity. | |||||
| Aha! Submission demonstrates originality, creativity, surprise, and/or fills a clear gap/need/curiosity across the arts and/or inquiry fields. | |||||
| Total Points: | |||||
| Notes: | |||||
Why is it called the 4'33'' competition?
4'33" is an homage to John Cage's landmark composition 4'33".
Previous 4'33" Winners
2023
Vale Prosper, Isabella Tallman-Jones, Adah Bennion, and Keren Sahar
Grand Prize Winner
Adah Bennion
MFA, Studio | Advisor: Isabelle Loring Wallace
Runners-up
Vale Prosper
Ph.D., Theater and Performance Studies | Advisor: John Bray
Keren Sahar
BFA, Graphic Design | Advisor: Grace Jun
Isabelle Tallman-Jones
MA, Art History | Advisor: Isabelle Loring Wallace
2022
Elizabeth Dubberly, Daniel Karcher, Lyndsey Cole Hadary and Sofía Ruiz
Grand Prize Winner
Daniel Karcher
DMA, Music Composition | Advisor: Peter Van Zandt Lane
Analytical Descriptors for Sonic Spatialization in Music Composition
Runners-up
Elizabeth Dubberly
PhD, Language and Literacy Education | Advisor: Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor
Can a Classroom Sewing and Engineering Activity Provide Insight into Bilingualism?
Lyndsey Cole Hadary
MFA, Performance | Advisor: Anthony Marotta
The Beginning of Things: A Feminist Dreamscape
Sofía Ruiz
MFA, Performance | Advisor: Anthony Marotta
Female Warriors in History
2021
Josina Guess
4’33” Research in the Arts Award Winner
MFA in Narrative Nonfiction
Faculty Advisor: Patricia Thomas
"From Bilali to Bailey"
Jonathan Mitchell Vance
4’33” Research in the Arts Finalist
PhD Candidate, Computer Science
Faculty Advisor: Khaled Rasheed
"An Atonal Algorithm and AI Articulation"
View Presentation Online
Leah Dutton
4’33” Research in the Arts Finalist
Major Degree Area: DMA Cello Performance
2020
Jason Woodworth-Hou, winner of the 2020 4"33" Research in the Arts Competition.
His presentation was entitled "Redefining Animation: How They Shall Not Grow Old
Redefines Truthmaking Through CGI Animation."
Other competition finalist include:
Annie Simpson, MFA Studio Art
Atalanta Siegel, MFA Acting
Morgan Tate, PhD Social Studies Education
Nicollette Frank, PhD Elementary Education
Paula Reynaldi, MFA Studio Art
Robyn Acetta, MFA Acting
Sarah Shermyen, PhD English
SungEun Min, PhD, Educational Theory and Practice
Viviane Klen-Alves, PhD TESOL and World Language Education
2019
Pictured are the participants in the 2019 4 minutes, 33 seconds competition. The winner of the oral presentation was Kathleen McGovern (pictured below with guest judge Kishi Bashi). McGovern is a Language and Literature Education Ph.D. candidate in the College of Education.
2018 
Pictured with Graduate School Dean Suzanne Barbour (center) are (l-r) Samantha Lynn Hudson, an MFA student in dramatic media; Rhia Moreno, a doctoral student in language and literacy education; Kuo Zhang, a doctoral student in the language and literacy education program; and Bridget Dooley, a doctoral student in creative writing. Last November, Kuo won the 4'33" competition in the presentation category, and the other three received awards in the poster competition.
2017
Pictured is the award winner in the presentation category Ally Christmas, a master
of fine arts student in the Lamar Dodd School of Art. Poster exhibition winners include: Madison
A. Hogan, Undergraduate Major, Department of English; Abigail Kosberg, MA Art History, Lamar Dodd School of Art; and Marlon Burnley, MFA
Acting, Department of Theatre and Film Studies.
2017
Pictured are the participants in the 2016 4 minutes, 33 seconds competition. The winner of the oral presentation was Meg Hankel, and recipients of the first annual poster competition included Arron Foster, Damon Postle and Kaleena Stasiak.
2015
The 2015 winners of the presentation competition are pictured with Georgia Museum
of Art Director William Eiland, who served as emcee. Theresa Chafin (left) is a grad
student in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music and Beth Fadeley (right) is an art history student in the Lamar Dodd School of Art.
2014
Graduate students K. Scott Eggert (left) of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music and Karen Sweeney Gerow (right) of the Lamar Dodd School of Art are the winners of the inaugural 4 minutes, 33 seconds: Spotlight on Scholarship competition. They are pictured with then-Vice Provost Russ Mumper, the emcee of the event.