Pioneer Con

Deadline: 11:59 p.m. on Friday, October 3, 2025

Pioneer Con is seeking presentation proposals centered around the theme of "transformation" for this year's event.* These proposals can be of the following types:

• Roundtable: A group of speakers presents a shared point of view and leads audience discussion, for a session time of 45 minutes. Proposals are submitted with names of all group members. Roundtable presentations will be held in person on the date of the event.
• Panel: Speakers offer individual points of view for a presentation of 10-12 minutes. They are later grouped with others discussing similar topics. Panels are hosted by a moderator. Individual presentations will be held in person on the date of the event.
• Lecture: Reserved for faculty or off-campus professionals. Presentation will be 45-60 minutes. Event planners will reach out to discuss the lecture with the presenter.

Presentations may address one of the following--or a topic that you propose:

• Gaming (board games, video games, role playing, etc.)
• Science Fiction or Fantasy in Popular Culture
• Anime & Manga
• Works of fiction and nonfiction
• Film, television, theater, social media

*Information about this year's theme can be found on the Pioneer Con website. Additional ideas may be found in the Teaching Ideas section of the site.

To make a proposal, submit a 100- to 200-word description of your planned presentation. Tell us as much as possible about what you want to cover and whether you are an individual or a group. If you plan to have more than one presenter, provide the name of each participant. Up to five people may participate as presenters in a session.

We'll make final decisions and inform selected participants through email by Friday, October 10.

For any questions, please email Pioneer Con co-sponsor Dr. Erin Arnold at earnold1@jeffersonstate.edu.

Deadline: 11:59 p.m. on Friday, October 3, 2025

General Guidelines (All Categories):

• You must be a current JSCC student.
• Limit 3 submissions per category per person.
• Each submission must meet the required length as listed below.
• Prizes are awarded to the top 3 entries in each category.
• Winners' names might be published on the Pioneer Con Website.
• All submissions will be considered for Wingspan, Jefferson State Community College's literary magazine. The magazine is published in January each year and is available in print and online.
• All rights revert to the author upon publication.
• All work must be original. Any work that detects plagiarism or AI-generated content will be disqualified.

Categories:

• Text or Media Analysis Essay: Students will choose from a curated list of texts and visual media (paintings, drawings, graphic design, sculpture, etc.) and formulate an essay that is an analysis of their chosen work. They can explore the theme of transformation in their essay by evaluating traditional literary and visual components like characterization, imagery, and style. They can also choose to compare and contrast to another piece of written or visual work. Essays will need to be in MLA format and range from 1,000-1,800 words. The curated list is available here.
• Creative Writing: Students will use their interpretation of the theme of “transformation” by writing a fictional short story (between 800-2,000 words), a poem (between 14-50 lines), or an engaging personal essay (between 800-2,000 words).
• Art: Students will use their interpretation of the theme of “transformation" by creating a work of art. Students can submit paintings, drawings, sculptures, graphic designs, collages, recordings of original songs, or original films to the contest.

For any questions, please email the Pioneer Con Writing Contest sponsor Heather Wyatt at hwyatt1@jeffersonstate.edu.