Room of the Year Contest

The 2023 Room of the Year contest has concluded. Check back for details in the fall about the 2024 contest.

Our Room of the Year Contest is a great way for you to showcase your room’s transformation into your new on-campus home! In the fall, students were encouraged to enter their room online and the winners received prizes as well as the opportunity to be featured in Housing & Residential Life materials.

For questions, please email housing@cornell.edu.  

Prizes 

One winning room was selected from every building or community, with a prize of $100 each. The top rooms were then posted for voting with the grand prize winner received $500 and four finalists won $200 each. 

All prizes will be a combination of Cornell Store gift cards and Cornell Dining BRBs. 

Judging Criteria 

Entries are judged on the basis of the photographs submitted by residents. In submitting a photo, residents give permission for any images taken during this process to be used indefinitely on Cornell University or departmental websites and in marketing materials for the purposes of providing visual examples of on-campus living.    

Residents should not invest money into improving their rooms solely for the purpose of this contest. Room entries are not judged on how luxurious they appear; instead, entries are judged on the innovative and creative ways that residents have worked together to personalize their rooms and highlight their unique spaces.  

Rooms will be judged on style, creativity, detail, best use of space, and overall impact. Winners will be selected from each residence hall, one for each of the five West Campus Housing System houses, as well as a co-op house. These building or community winners will automatically be entered for a chance to win one grand prize, as determined by social media votes.