Playbill is proud to announce the winner of the Hamilton Playbill x Canva Contest! Last month, Hamilton held a fan art contest to celebrate its 10th anniversary, with the winning design being part of the special 10th anniversary Playbill cover for Hamilton, distributed at all of the show's performances during the month of August.

Out of over 3,000 entries, where fans created their original artwork using the design platform Canva and the Playbill x Canva Contest template, a winner has been selected by a team of judges. The winning cover design is below, created by Sarah Welch. 

Welch's design will be featured on the second cover of the Hamilton August Playbills, with the front cover being the special Hamilton 10th anniversary design. The special Playbill can be purchased at the Playbill Store.

Below, Welch tells Playbill about the inspiration for her design: the song "Burn," sung by Eliza Hamilton in the musical.

What inspired your design?
Sarah Welch: History is best learned through the stories of those who experienced it first-hand. The creative storytelling within the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton is what made it so popular and inspired millions of people, myself included, to dive deeper into learning about the American Revolution.

While the musical is largely based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, throughout the musical we begin to learn the stories of others, including Eliza Schuyler. I have always found her story and the iconic song "Burn" to be one of the most inspiring parts of the musical, and why I decided to focus on that part of the story for my design. My design was inspired by the moment in the song when Eliza sets fire to Hamilton’s letters.

What does Hamilton mean to you?
Hamilton holds a special place in my heart. I first saw the musical in Chicago in June 2018, right after my husband, who teaches early American history to eighth grade, was selected as Pennsylvania’s History Teacher of the Year. When he was named the National History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History later that year, we were lucky enough to see the musical at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City. Five years later, we took our two children to New York for a summer trip, surprising them with tickets to Hamilton as part of their first Broadway experience. Following the show, we were able to meet several cast members as they exited the stage door. Our then 10-year-old daughter, who loves theatre and has participated in 14 musicals as part of a local musical theatre conservatory program, met original cast member Thayne Jasperson that night!

Describe the process in Canva and how it was able to aid you in your design vision.
When I first learned of the Playbill design contest, I was excited to submit an entry through Canva, a platform that I use daily for work! It was exciting to see the number of options that were available for images and graphics of the people portrayed in Hamilton. Using Canva, it was very easy to try different ideas and to move images and text around to find a design that I loved. My first design included the New York skyline and a line from the musical. It was nice, but it didn’t reflect the power that I feel when I watch the musical or listen to the music. I continued to try different elements until I ultimately decided to incorporate “Burn” into the cover of the program.

Congratulations to Sarah. And visit Hamilton on Broadway during the month of August to receive a special Playbill featuring Sarah's design. Plus, Sarah's design and the finalists are featured in every Broadway and Off-Broadway Playbill for the month of August. Go see a show in New York to get your copy. See the 10 finalist designs below.

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Playbill x Canva Hamilten Contest Finalists

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Even though the contest has ended, you can still enjoy the full use of the Playbill x Canva Contest template through the end of August. Please feel free to explore this template and all the offerings of the Canva platform. Click here to see the contest template.