Editor’s Note: The Department of Residence could not provide full student names in order to protect residents’ safety.
The Department of Residence (DOR) declared the winners for this year’s Best Room on Campus Contest. Winners were chosen from four groups of campus housing in addition to one grand prize winner.
The Best Room on Campus Contest was initiated five years ago by the DOR as a way to recognize students for outstanding room decoration while also offering prospective students a better visualization of what dorm life at Iowa State is like.
“It’s a great way to generate marketing photos that are truly realistic…We can go in and take pictures of a tour room, but the way we set it up isn’t exactly how students might actually live in it,” said Residence Hall Communications Specialist Chrissy Rhodes.
The Best Room on Campus Contest takes place annually each spring, with submissions opening for acceptance in early February. Students can submit photos of their decorated dorm rooms through a Qualtrics form, where they are then whittled down by DOR staff. Once finalists have been selected, a student vote is opened to officially determine the contest winners.
The decision to nominate winners for individual housing neighborhoods instead of a singular grand prize winner came as a new addition to this year’s competition.
“A personal goal I had this year was to have really maximum entries from all over campus,” Rhodes said. “I didn’t want to just have an over-representation of Willow, for example. I wanted to see as many different spaces as possible.”
Rhodes said her favorite part of being involved with the contest is getting to see how student trends change and evolve throughout the years.
“We’ve had such a blend of stuff on campus, and it’s cool to see how people work with those different architecture styles to make it feel cohesive,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes also said she enjoys seeing students incorporate their hobbies into their living spaces.
“There was somebody this year who was really into remote control cars, so their whole entire room was set up for their RC cars, which was really cool,” Rhodes said. “There’s somebody that had a keyboard, a cello and a French horn… Another had a sewing machine—you know, just integrating the way they set up their room to make their passions the center aspect of it.”
Winners of each neighborhood group were awarded $75 Amazon gift cards for each roommate. The grand prize winner received a $150 gift card.
This year’s grand prize winner was Merideth of Friley Residence Hall, also winning best of Union Drive.
Joslyn of Oak Residence Hall won best of Richardson Court area.
Caroline of Frederiksen Court won best of the apartments.
Lauren of Buchanan Residence Hall won best of the South side.
Rhodes said the DOR plans to continue holding the contest annually each spring and hopes to continue evolving the competition to keep things new and exciting.
“We get to recognize students for the cool things that they do while also helping incoming students feel more at ease and get a better representation of life on campus,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes said that her best advice for students looking to submit their entries to next year’s contest is prioritizing cleanliness, having proper lighting and choosing the right time of the day to snap your photos.
For students interested in entering next year’s contest, information can be found on the Department of Residence website. Further contest details will be announced via the department’s Instagram at the start of the spring 2025 semester.
“I would just like to say genuine thank you to all the students that participated,” Rhodes said. “It is so fun to see all the entries, and I really do think it helps incoming students feel more at ease when they see how people are genuinely living on campus … it is a genuinely very helpful thing to do as much as it’s about competition.”
