Congratulations to UW-Madison Cartography/GIS graduate student Chenxiao (Atlas) Guo on collecting seven awards for maps submitted to the Wisconsin Land Information Association (WLIA) map contest, held during the association’s annual conference in Green Bay from February 27 – March 1, 2024. The annual WLIA map contest receives entries in print, digital, and special formats from a wide range of participants including professionals and university students, along with a special “youth map” category this year.

Atlas submitted 4 maps to the 2024 WLIA map contest, including one digital map entitled Ancient Chinese Style Basemap Design, two print maps: The United States of Natural Disasters and Overview Map of Lifetime Footprint in Memory of Grandfather, and a special format map: the LEGO Map of Wisconsin.

Atlas’s Natural Disasters map was runner up in the “Best Thematic” category and also took home the “Keynote’s Choice” award (an award where conference keynote speakers vote on their favorite map.) His Lifetime Footprint map won first place for “Best Black and White Map.”

But it was the LEGO map that stole the show! It won first place for “Most Unique Map” and also won in three special award categories for: “Best Student Map,” “President’s Choice” and “People’s Choice.” While Atlas could not attend the WLIA conference in person to see the awards announced, attendees from UW-Madison emailed him in real-time with the good news as the awards ceremony unfolded.

Atlas has graciously donated the LEGO Map of Wisconsin to the UW-Madison Department of Geography’s Robinson Map Library, where it will be on public exhibit alongside other special format maps created over the years by talented students.