Terrell Monger, pastor of One Accord International and who sometimes leads devotions with Memphis Allies staff, wanted to do something about that. The result was the city’s inaugural InstaJam Social Media Awards, presented July 11 at the Halloran Centre for Performing Arts & Education.
“We all know it, we just don’t talk about it much and act like it’s not real life, but people are posting gang activity and guns on social media,” Monger said. “It’s driving the culture. So, the idea was to see if we can reward people for making positive content and shift culture.”
The InstaJam contest was a great way to engage a broader audience. Meanwhile, Memphis Allies’ staff often find that program participants are exercising poor judgment on social media. One outreach specialist even said getting participants to give up their social media accounts is the most challenging request staff make of them.
Carl Davis, managing director of operations for Memphis Allies and a co-host of the InstaJam Social Media Awards, notes Memphis Allies participants often lead multiple social media lives.
It’s driving the culture. So, the idea was to see if we can reward people for making positive content and shift culture.
– Terrell Monger
Pastor of One Accord International
“They may give you their Facebook because that’s older people,” Davis said. “But they won’t give you their Snapchat or TikTok. They’ll be one person on one social media platform and another person on another social media platform.”
Monger and Davis were impressed by much of the positive content from competitors, although Davis said much of it was done by junior high and high school students. Going forward, they hope to attract more people in their 20s as that age group is creating a lot of negative social media content.
Davis and Monger also discovered that many young people were focused only on the beat of the music in their videos, not on the lyrics.
“We had to have some conversations,” Davis said, referring to the competitors.
And in some cases, conversations needed to be had with young people about how to better identify content that is appropriate for social media.
“They were open to it,” Monger added. “It made people consider what is positive, and what is not.”
Monger only started efforts for #InstaJam26 in May. He is already making plans for next year and expects the 2027 event to be far bigger.
“It seems like it has momentum,” Monger said. This year’s awards were sponsored by Inspire Memphis, Memphis Allies, Shelby County Commissioner Charlie Caswell and ICY Arts.
Memphis Allies’ Vocational Coordinator Memry Wilson also served as a co-host, SWITCH Youth Life Coach Briant “B-Radical” Kelly performed at the event, and Memphis Allies Community Relations Director Jevonte Porter was an award presenter.
Here were the winners:
The Showstopper Award: Camp InstaJam
The People’s Choice Award: Baily Batts, CJ Freeman and Madison Monger
The One-of-a-Kind Award: The Freeman Family
The Changemaker Award: Tristen Sandifer
The Golden Creator Award: Unc Nem’
The Inspire Memphis Award: Jessica Lindsey
The Fancy Footwork Award: Legacy of Legends
The Purpose over Popularity Award: Ian’s Golf and Games
