The votes are in — and the favorite ghoul in the school has been revealed!

Associate professor Van Kornegay’s Multimedia for Visual Communications class brought their spooky spirit to life in this year’s annual Monster Mash competition. The challenge? To “persuade faculty and staff to get their ghoul on.”

Students were encouraged to unleash their creativity and technical expertise, transforming ordinary people into extraordinary creatures of the night. Using a combination of studio lighting, art direction, makeup artistry, photo compositing and simple animation techniques, they produced a collection of Halloween-inspired characters that ranged from frighteningly realistic to playfully eerie.

Once completed, all of the characters were featured across the School of Journalism and Mass Communications’ digital platforms — including in-house display screens and official social media channels. This allowed students, faculty, staff and alumni to admire the work and participate in the fun by voting for their favorite “ghoul in the school” through an online poll.

The competition was a very close one as only 24 votes separated the top two, proof of just how talented and imaginative this year’s participants were.

While every ghoul had its charm, only one could rise from the crypt to claim top honors.

The 2025 Ghoul of the School is:

Britt Hogg as "The Joker"
By: Alecia Miranda, Matti Evans and Rachel Hull

 

And the rest of the ghoulishly good work...

Second Place - Erin Newman as "Medusa"
By: Juliette Behrends, Abigail Yi and Maranda Balcerzak

 

Tara Mortensen as "The J-School Sorceress"
By: Camryn Weatherford, Julia Spies and Charlotte Anderson

 

Jason Porter as "Porterwise the clown" from the movie IT
By: Chloe Johns and CJ Rosenberger

 

Dan Stewart as "The Headless Horseman"
By: Will Rogers, Grace Peterson and Ashley Mallon

 

Kristen Walker as "Corpse Bride"
By: Evelyn Esquivel, Hayley Allen and Peyton Newell