After reading through hundreds of wonderfully thoughtful and inspirational applications, we here at Sub Pop Records have chosen three extraordinarily qualified students for our 2017 Sub Pop Loser scholarship.

Our $7000 winner this year is Tia Shekelle of Bellingham High School in Bellingham Washington. Tia won us over big-time with her explosive zine work, beautiful art, eye catching photography, and incredible productivity. Between dance, drums, bass, writing, volunteering, film making, painting, and being a high school senior we were blown away by how much awesome stuff Tia is doing. In her community in Bellingham she has volunteered many hours to the Make.Shift gallery DIY space as well as planned parenthood and a local zine club. We really think that Tia has a bright future ahead of her, and her message of inclusivity really resonated with us. She is definitely one of the most talented and exciting applicants to apply for our Loser Scholarship. 

Ariana Watson will be taking home $5000 this year as a Sub Pop Loser Scholarship winner. From Seaside, Oregon, Aria won us over with her #signedbytrump photography, which was one of the best pieces we’ve seen in all of our years of looking at Loser Scholarship applications. Her photography and the message behind it works beautifully and sends a loud message of strength. In her essay Aria explained how her art and politics led to cyber-bullying and many other unfortunate incidents that young feminists often deal with but her mental toughness and resolve in the face of adversity spoke to our scholarship selection committee. At the MUSE international women’s conference Aria was able to speak about her work and inspire hundreds to represent the voiceless, to stand up for what they believe in. Montana is Aria’s next destination where she will be pursuing health studies, we wish her the best.

Raven Smith will be getting $3000 as a Sub Pop Loser Scholarship winner. Talking on the radio while truly being herself did not come easy to Raven. After moving to Spokane she struggled to find her niche but found an outlet at her local radio station KYRS. At KYRS Raven worked her way from volunteer CD organizer onto the air where she nervously stuttered her sputtered first words but eventually gained confidence and found her own voice. Wow, it turns out her radio show Basement Beats is fantastic, despite starting out nervous she has become a great on air DJ. On top of working with KYRS on their Raise Your Voice campaign Raven has also become a powerful writer and public speaker, her words are very powerful. We know there are big things coming up for Raven and we are very excited to see where the future takes her. 

This year we had so many great applicants for the Loser Scholarship, it was really hard to choose our winners. For those losers who didn’t win this year, thanks for playing, we loved your applications too, and know many of you will go on to inspire us in your future endeavors.