DUB campus columnist competition remarkably popular

The competitors had to submit two columns before midnight on Sunday, December 1. Shortly before the deadline, the responses poured in.

DUB has received forty valid entries, half in Dutch and the other half in English. There will be a winner for each language. This was the second most popular year for the Campus Columnist competition. The most popular year so far was 2021, with 42 valid entries. That year, many people felt inspired to write about how Covid-19 was affecting their lives. In other years, the number of entries fluctuated between thirteen and thirty.

This year's jury consists of six members: author and Volkskrant editor Joost de Vries, UU science historian and Trouw columnist Hieke Huistra, UU PhD candidate and former DUB blogger Claudia Ionita, UU graduate and journalist Paola di Stefano, DUB's internationalisation editor Marjorie van Elven, and DUB's new editor-in-chief, Bas Mesters.

The judges will nominate three candidates for both categories and then select the winners. The six nominated columns will be published on DUB and the winner will be revealed in mid-January. 

How it started
DUB launched the competition in 2012. Thirty students and employees participated, with the Master's student in Biochemistry Dieudonnée van de Willige being announced as the first winner (the contest only selected columns written in the Dutch language at the time, Ed.). Since 2020, there have been two prizes, one for the Dutch page and one for the English page.

The winners get the opportunity to write a column for DUB every three weeks, commenting on student life or academic life in Utrecht. They also receive a stipend of 1,000 euros named after former DUB editor Erik Hardeman. Hardeman was beloved for his column “Schreef” (Write), in which he took a satirical look at university affairs.