What inspires you?
Are you passionate about the planet? Invested in sustainable cities, public health, or disaster response? Excited about innovation in and beyond the classroom?
“We like to think that our story demonstrates how one small idea can spur community action to work towards a more sustainable future.” —Ella Ashford and Riley Forth, student winners of the 2023 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition
Use your unique talents — from cartography and data analysis to photography and design — to tell your story with ArcGIS StoryMaps. Then submit it to the 2024 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition: Storytelling for a better world.
Read through our competition tips, and use the resources listed as you plan, build, and publish your story by December 6, 2024.
Select a competition category.
This year, the 2024 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition includes five categories for story submissions. You may submit a story to one competition category only. Read sample stories for each below and select the best fit for your work.
Category 1: Digital humanities and popular culture
Explore a few featured stories below or the story collection:
- Visualizing the Survey: Plans and Profiles of the Colorado River
- Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: A virtual exhibition by the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Category 2: Health and safety
Explore a few featured stories below or the story collection:
Category 3: Humanitarian and disaster response
Explore a few featured stories below or the story collection:
Category 4: Nature and physical science
Explore a few featured stories below or the story collection:
Category 5: Planning and infrastructure
Explore a few featured stories below or the story collection:
All submissions must be created with ArcGIS StoryMaps.
Good to know: In each track, student story submissions will be judged against other student submissions only. To qualify as a student, you must be 18 years or older and seeking a degree at a two or four-year institution of higher education.
Build your own story or a story together.
Whether you’re a student, part of a local organization, or a global agency, this competition is for you. All storytellers globally, 18 years old and over, are encouraged to submit new or existing stories created with ArcGIS StoryMaps.
As in previous years, a group can submit one story together — as an applicant.
Sample group efforts might include:
- A college course that breaks students into multiple storytelling workgroups
- A research study with multiple contributors
- A local partnership project with multiple partners
- An ArcGIS StoryMaps collection with multiple stories related to one project
Listen to advice from other storytellers.
“The most important advice is to begin and do your best to create your own story. Sometimes, the biggest challenge is taking the first step.” —Petr Zálešák, student winner of the 2023 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition
The annual ArcGIS StoryMaps competition encourages innovative storytelling, mapping, and data visualization. The StoryMaps team interviews the winners — our Storytellers of the Year — to get a behind-the-scenes look at their storytelling processes and valuable advice for other storytellers.
Without fail, they share this advice for creating a winning story.
- Browse the ArcGIS StoryMaps gallery for inspiration and creative uses of ArcGIS StoryMaps features.
- Plan before you build. Our winners gather content and organize information before they create a draft story in ArcGIS StoryMaps. Some use a basic outline; others create a storyboard. Read the Planning and Outlining Your Story Maps blog post for ideas.
Read other expert advice from our Storytellers of the Year:
Take advantage of ArcGIS StoryMaps features.
Map choreography. Custom themes. Image galleries, videos, and embeds.
Make your stories shine with a crafty combination of ArcGIS StoryMaps features and your content.
Follow us on ArcGIS StoryMaps X and the ArcGIS StoryMaps blog to learn more about product features and enhancements available to you.
Are you new to ArcGIS StoryMaps or need a fresher before you jump in? Get started with these helpful resources.
Get to know the competition judges.
New this year!
Esri is teaming up with five organizations, all subject-matter experts in their respective fields. Each organization will judge and select the winners of one competition category.
- Stanford Libraries Map and GIS team, Digital humanities and popular culture
- San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, Health and safety
- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or the UN Refugee Agency, Humanitarian and disaster response
- The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Nature and physical science
- Old Dominion University, Planning and infrastructure
Visit the Storytelling for a better world hub to learn more about these organizations and get category-specific resources for your story.
So are you a 2024 Storyteller of the Year?
Visit the 2024 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition website to get started.
We can’t wait to see what you create.
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