Watson Fellowship winner Allison Swaim (OC ’10), a former TIMARA and CAST (Comparative American Studies) student, has won the Best New Artist Award in the 2012 Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition. Her documentary, Big Ship Diary, was produced with editor Cecilia Vaisman for WBEZ Chicago’s series Front and Center. Swaim circumnavigated the world for twelve months by cargo ship to investigate how trade routes shape narratives of people and places. She built a network of industry contacts and worked to get one ride at a time, slowly making her way east and stopping at port cities en route. Her trip included stops in Canada, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Norway, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, France, Egypt, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Cyprus, and South Korea. She documented her journey and the stories she encountered by recording sound, photo and video. In January, Swaim led an on-campus, full credit Winter Term class, where she invited students of all fields to help collaborate on the production phase of her “Trade Route Stories” project. Read Allison’s full story on Oberlin College’s website. – MC