The call for entries for Reclaim’s Student Showcase 2026 is now open through June 30th. The showcase is open to projects built through Domain of One’s Own, Shared Hosting, and WordPress Multisite.
One of the things that struck me most about last year’s inaugural showcase was not only the quality of the work, but how much of it I never would have seen otherwise. There were digital storytelling projects, research sites, portfolios, multimedia experiments, and all manner of creative work happening across our community that largely existed within the context of a particular course, institution, or program. The showcase provided a rare opportunity to see all of that work gathered together in one place.
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about storefronts and exhibition spaces through the lens of bava.studio. One of the things I love most about having a physical space is the window. You can put something in it and suddenly work that might otherwise go unseen becomes part of the life of a community. People stop, stare, ask questions, wander in, and conversations start.
In a lot of ways, the Student Showcase is exactly that kind of window. It’s a chance to put student work on display and let people see what is actually happening across courses, programs, and institutions. Whether it’s a digital storytelling project, research site, portfolio, publication, multimedia experiment, or something that doesn’t fit neatly into any category, it’s worth sharing.
Window at bava.studio not dissimilar from the Student Showcase to fly your freak flag
So if you’re teaching, supporting, or working alongside students doing interesting things on the open web, now is a great time to submit their work. The showcase feels less like a competition than an exhibition—a chance to celebrate the creativity, experimentation, and care students bring to the web every day.
The web could always use more examples of people making interesting things. This is one of the few opportunities each year to get a glimpse of the awesome work happening across the Reclaim community, and I hope you’ll consider submitting something.
