When the Berkeley Public Library announced it was hiring a social media mascot in May, its inbox was flooded with the cover letters of more than 100 fuzzy and friendly fiber applicants.<\/p>\n
The Fiber Mascot Contest seeks to find a new mascot to be featured on the Berkeley Public Library\u2019s social media, website and promotional materials from a community member-made creation. The contest, framed as an intense hiring recruitment by the library on Instagram, has entered its voting stage after accepting submissions from June 1-30.<\/p>\n
The mascot submissions range from a felted kangaroo rat with a pair of glasses to a crocheted octopus reading a book to a sewn gnome in a fuchsia hat named FuFu Georgie B.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe launched a fiber mascot contest with the purpose of finding a unique anchor point, a visual that people can see on social media,\u201d said Berkeley Public Library communications specialist Chi Luu. \u201cWe thought \u2018Oh, what if we do something that the community makes because this is for the community.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Submissions for the contest must be made out of fiber of some kind, which, broadly defined, means mascots could be knit, crocheted, sewn, felted, quilted, woven or even incorporate some kind of mixed media, according to its website.<\/p>\n
While there is no prize for the winners of the contest, all participants received a small gift, which included a $5 coupon to the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library bookstore, a color pencil set and a Berkeley Public Library coloring sheet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we first started this contest, we expected 10 to 15 submissions,\u201d Luu said. \u201cWe got over 100 submissions \u2026 it really proved to me the love that the community really gives to the library.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luu and the library staff were impressed with the amount of effort put into the submissions, noting how many had their own backstories and accessories. After receiving 40 entries, the library staff held a photoshoot to take pictures of all the submissions and posted them in an online gallery for the public to view.<\/p>\n
She said that having a photoshoot to capture these details was the only way to \u201cdo them justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople really pour their heart into it,\u201d Luu said. \u201cIt really gave us a reason to go to work every day to see what was going to come in.\u201d<\/p>\n
UC Berkeley alumna Christina Cheuk said she heard about the Fiber Mascot Contest on Instagram and was inspired to submit a mascot after feeling burnt out from work and wanting to pursue a new creative project.<\/p>\n
Cheuk\u2019s submission, Adeline, is a crocheted poodle complete with piercings, a tote bag with her library card and copies of her favorite books from local authors. According to her cover letter, Adeline \u201cloves zines, science fiction, banh mi, and the Berkeley Marina.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to do something fun for an organization that I love where the stakes were low, and I got to be creative wholly away from a screen,\u201d Cheuk said in an email. \u201cIt’s so lovely to get to participate in a communal, reciprocal space and to express my appreciation for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Community members have until Aug. 9 to cast a vote for their favorites in three categories: Most Creative, Best Youth Entry and Most Berkeley. The library will announce the mascot winner mid-August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Berkeley Public Library announced it was hiring a social media mascot in May, its inbox was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[63845,167680,167682,167683,44655,167681,143,145,144],"class_list":["post-419457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-berkeley-marina","tag-berkeley-public-libary","tag-chi-luu","tag-christina-cheuk","tag-friends-of-the-library","tag-fufu-gerogie-b","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}