BTS Creator Competition: Renaissance Storyteller Challenge

Apply Now

The Heart of This Challenge

This isn’t just a competition — it’s a call to artists, visionaries, filmmakers, and dreamers to step forward and tell the most important story of our time:

The Renaissance of Detroit

Detroit is not on the edge — Detroit is overflowing. Creativity pours from our streets, innovation hums in our bones, and every founder, artist, and dreamer adds their verse to a masterpiece too bold to be ignored. We are not waiting to be seen; we are shining. We are not clinging to survival; we are creating in abundance. This is our Renaissance — undeniable, uncontainable, and alive in every story we choose to tell.

September 24 – October 31, 2025
Finalists announced: Week after November 1st | All Roads Lead to the Detroit Digital Empowerment Summit

🎯 Your Mission

Tell a story — YOUR story, OUR story — that speaks to:

  • The spirit of the Detroit Digital Empowerment Summit (September 24–27)

  • Detroit’s culture, creativity, community, and rise of innovation

  • The panels, the afterglows, the people, and the power of belonging

We want art. We want beauty. We want truth.
Make us feel it.

    • Open to any digital media format:

      • Video (max 2 minutes)

      • Audio or Music (max 2 minutes)

      • Photography or digital artwork (up to 10 images with narrative)

      • Mixed media (e.g., narrated slideshow or motion graphics)

    • Submissions must connect directly to the Detroit Digital Empowerment Summit — through location, energy, people, visuals, or message

    • Content must reference or capture the Summit either visually, verbally, or thematically

    • Must include or tag the location of Detroit and reference the summit (visual or verbal)

    • Must be posted to Instagram as a collab with @BlackTechSaturdays and/or tagged on LinkedIn

    • Use hashtags: #ThriveBTS #DetroitDigitalSummit #BTSRenaissanceChallenge

    • Each creator may submit up to 3 total entries

    • Originality & Artistic Soul

    • Impact of Storytelling

    • Visual / Audio / Technical Execution

    • Alignment with BTS values and Summit theme

  • We are awarding five winners — and every winning submission will be shared with the world.

    🥇 1st Place – $3,500
    🥈 2nd Place – $2,500
    🥉 3rd Place – $2,000
    🏅 4th Place – $1,200
    🏅 5th Place – $800

    Winners will:

    • Be featured in press, promotions, and BTS Thrive Directory

    • Join a renaissance of creators and founders shaping a new Detroit

    • Competition Opens: September 24, 2025

    • Detroit Digital Empowerment Summit: September 24–27, 2025

    • Submission Deadline: October 31, 2025

    • Finalists Announced: November 1, 2025

🔥 Make Art. Make Noise. Make History.

This is your moment to direct something unforgettable — something worthy of the rebirth we’re witnessing.

Detroit is the heartbeat.
You are the lens.
Let’s show the world what it feels like when a city rises.

Submit by October 31.
Finalists announced November 1.
Legacy begins September 24–27.

Apply Now