STORY PROJECT

Phase 1 Checklist

Please read the Theme Document and understand the theme correctly before you proceed. If you need clarity, contact the CaL team. 

This year, we will ONLY be accepting stories in one of the following two formats: First-Person Narratives or Picture Book

• If you choose the first-person narrative style, you need to write THREE stories. PLEASE see last year’s book “Humans of CaL” on the website to see exemplars of these stories. 
• If you choose the picture book style, you need to write and illustrate one story. 

Phase 1: Students submit the following for Phase 1 of their Story Project

Due Date: August 15th 2025

Format: As a Google Doc on the folder shared by City as Lab

1. PROTAGONISTS: Identify WHOSE stories you want to tell and WHY these stories are important. These need to be authentic stories told by CaL participants based on personal interactions and interviews with the protagonists. We will NOT accept stories of people already published on other forums.
2. RATIONALE: State and explain the REASON you feel each story is important to tell. This section must include:

1. 1. 1. 1. A personal reason for why you want to tell the story of this person/s. 
         2. Secondary research that shows why this story is important to tell i.e. some secondary research about the connection of your story/stories to the theme of gender inequity. Something that convinces the reader that this is an important story to tell BEYOND your personal interest. Students MUST cite the source of their reference. References can include:  recent newspaper articles, journal articles, statistics on valid government or other sites, etc. 

• For example, let us say that the students choose to tell the story of a woman who had to settle for less play than her male colleagues at her workplace. They can cite statistics about the gender pay gap in India to build a case.
•  A story from the perspective of a hiring manager who unknowingly prioritizes male candidates for certain types of jobs can include some secondary research on unconscious bias and how that impacts our thinking.
• A third example of this could be telling a story about a high school student who stayed silent on a group chat of boys objectifying the female classmates. Students could cite newspaper articles about similar cases in local schools and discuss why this is a big problem.