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Submit Your Fang-Tastic 2018 Halloween Photos

The annual Blue Devil Halloween Photo Contest returns, and Duke employees are invited to submit pictures by Nov. 1

The Duke University Press Strategy & Systems team, left, and three employees who worked for Performance Services, right, won awards in last year's Blue Devil Halloween Photo Contest.
The Duke University Press Strategy & Systems team, left, and three employees who worked for Performance Services, right, won awards in last year's Blue Devil Halloween Photo Contest.
Jonathan Black @WorkingatDuke

Ashley Postlethwaite’s Halloween costume was one year in the making. 

She and a colleague from Duke University Press staged a famous 1903 painting made by Cassisus Marcellus Coolidge of dogs playing poker for the Blue Devil Halloween Photo contest in 2017. Postlethwaite and three colleagues from the Duke Press Strategy & Systems team donned poodle, basset hound, bulldog and German shepherd masks and wore suspenders with homemade poker tables attached. 

“We kept it pretty secretive the whole year,” said Postlethwaite, product manager for Duke University Press, who wore the basset hound mask. “Halloween is so much fun because you get to see your colleagues’ creativity really shine.”

They won the most creative costume in last year’s Blue Devil Halloween Photo Contest, which returns this year. 

The 2018 Blue Devil Halloween Photo Contest is open to University and Health System staff and faculty, who are invited to submit a photo by 11 a.m. on Nov. 1. Pictures must be from October 2018 and taken at work or have a clear Duke or work-related theme to be eligible for prizes. 

Working@Duke judges will award one team and one individual with a grand prize – their winning photo on a coffee mug. Bags of chocolate candy will go to the spookiest and most creative Halloween pictures. New this year: We’ll randomly pick an entrant to receive one of our new “Proud to be Working@Duke” T-shirts.

Here’s how to participate:

  1. Take your best shot and submit your work or Duke-related Halloween photo by 11 a.m. on Nov. 1.
  2. All eligible submissions will be posted in an album on Working@Duke's Facebook page by 5 p.m. on Nov. 1 when voting opens. 
  3. Visit the album and vote for your favorite Halloween photo by 1 p.m. on Nov. 2. Voting closes at 1 p.m. Nov. 2. (You must have a Facebook account to vote).   
  4. One team and one individual with the most likes on their photo will each receive a grand prize - their winning photo on a coffee mug. Working@Duke judges will award a bag of candy for the spookiest and most creative costumes. New this year: We’ll randomly pick an entrant to receive one of our new “Proud to be Working@Duke” T-shirts.
  5. Winners will be announced on Facebook and Duke Today by 5 p.m. on Nov. 2. 

Unlike Duke University Press employees, whose costume was a year in the making, you can always take a cue from last year’s team winner. They decided on a costume the day before Halloween. 

Ashley Eli, Katherine Jordan and Theresa Alston-Williams, then with Performance Services in Duke Health, dressed up as Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan, the NASA workers depicted in the 2016 movie “Hidden Figures.”

They received 375 likes on Facebook for their photo. 

“We did a last minute huddle to portray these inspiring women,” said Alston-Williams, now a business process improvement leader for Duke Health Technology Solutions. “We’re all working in different departments now, so it looks like it’ll be another last-minute decision to dress up or not.”

View the 2017 submissions in the Blue Devil Halloween Photo Contest. 

Follow Working@Duke on Twitter and Facebook.