The Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital is sponsoring an academic and art competition designed to decrease the stigma of mental illness.
The BrainDance Awards aim to encourage high school and middle school students to explore and learn about psychiatric illnesses. Our goal is to foster understanding, raise awareness, and cultivate a compassionate and realistic perspective on mental health challenges. The competition also strives to educate students and promote their interest in careers in the mental health field.
To receive a BrainDance award, a student must submit either an art, academic, or mixed media project on themes that relate to severe mental illness. Projects can be in any format, including research studies, reviews, essays, paintings, poems, skits, songs, or short stories.
Students can choose to compete in any of the three categories. An award of $1000 will be awarded to the best submission in each category. Second place will receive an award of $500 and third place will receive $250. Student submissions in the art, academic, and mixed media competition are judged separately.
BrainDance Awards Celebration
All applicants, their teachers, families, and classmates will be invited to the awards celebration day hosted by The Institute of Living on April 2025. This day is designed to be an educational extension opportunity and will include food, an awards presentation, a visit to our Myths, Minds, and Medicine Museum on the history of mental health care, a tour of our neuro-imaging research center, a panel discussion of mental health professionals, and a lecture from a national expert on mental illness.
Winners are encouraged to present a brief presentation of their projects and submissions are presented around the awards room for all to see.
The awards are coordinated by: Melissa Deasy, LCSW, and Godfrey Pearlson, M.D., Director, Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center.
Frequently Asked Questions