Lyric Marquee Contest: Write a Marquee Message and Win Tickets to 2018/19!

Every day, tens of thousands of commuters walk past the beautiful Lyric Opera House on their way to and from work, and their eyes drift up to the building's signature marquees — located on Washington and Madison Streets — which the company has used for advertising and messaging for decades. 

Writing the marquees is a group effort by Lyric's marketing team. The goal is to make Chicagoans aware of what's happening onstage and, when possible, make people smile along the way. The marquees also provide a great opportunity to respond to current events, including when Chicago's sports teams make us proud with big wins!

If you've perfected messaging within Twitter's character limits or you're really good at Haiku writing, then consider making your next challenge the Lyric Marquee Contest! Lyric is accepting entries for marquee copy that promotes the upcoming season's opera, special events, or even just the art form of opera. 

The marquee offers only four lines of text, each no more than 12 characters, including spaces and punctuation. Fun opera plot summaries, messages encouraging people to try opera for the first time, and general observations about the art form are welcome - especially when they relate to the upcoming season lineup. 

For some examples of Lyric's marquees, check out the two links below with recent media coverage about Lyric's marquees, their popularity, and how those messages actually get up in lights.

Chicago Tonight's Ask Geoffrey: Lyric Opera’s Marquee Mystery

The Chicagoist Photos: Lyric Opera's Marquee Signs Are Meme-Worthy Brilliance

If your marquee entry is chosen to run, you'll not only see your creativity on display (along with thousands of others daily!), you'll also win a pair of tickets to Lyric's 18/19 Season! 

Submit your marquee entries here. See below for contest rules.