Having the prettiest, trendiest, most spirited dorm on campus used to win a student bragging rights, but this year it won several UK students the opportunity to see a famous pop superstar in Lexington. 

On Sept. 19, 2018, Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter superstar Justin Timberlake will be performing at Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington as part of his Man of the Woods tour. Timberlake released his new pop album, bearing the same name as his tour, earlier this year. Being only his fifth solo album released in his entire music-making career, the buzz around this tour, and specifically the event in Lexington, has been all too loud, especially with the news of the on-campus contest.

UK Campus Housing and UK Residence Life has always been a division of university affairs that is dedicated to making UK feel like a second home to students who choose to live on campus in an undergraduate residence hall. To give back to students living on campus, UK Campus Housing held a photo contest on Instagram and Facebook through Sept. 13. The challenge: post a picture of an on-campus dorm room.

One grand prize winner received a VIP package, consisting of two VIP tickets, Stage Bar seating (semi-circle area around center stage), access to pre-show Man of the Woods Lounge, commemorative ticket and lanyard, priority entry and access to on-site concierge. Three runner-up winners also received two general admissions tickets each.

Michael Danahy, assistant director of marketing and communications for UK Housing, said the general admissions winners were selected in three different categories: school spirit, unique setup and best style. The VIP experience package was selected as the resident whose submission was determined “Best in Show.”

“UK Campus Housing is incredibly excited to kick off the new school year,” Danahy said. “We wanted our residents to show off their new campus home, so we held [this] contest.”

All four of the winners of the UK Campus Housing contest were decided on Sept. 13. Olivia Hester, a senior political science major at UK, was the lucky winner of the VIP package, selected by the “Best Show” category.

“I saw the contest on Instagram because I follow the UK Residence Life on Instagram, since I am an RA,” Hester told the Kernel. “I had already posted a picture of my dorm on move-in since it is my last year, so I just went back and tagged UK Residence Life and hashtagged the contest to my caption.”

The names of the other three winners of the general admissions tickets have not been released to the public.