Meet The Guest Judges For The 2024 Elite Daily Dorm Awards

To pick the winning products for Elite Daily’s first-ever Dorm Awards, we went right to the pros: five college students who’ve built online followings for their dorm room decor, packing lists, and HomeGoods hauls. Learn more about the judges below and then check out the 2024 Elite Daily Dorm Awards to see their essential decor, storage and organization, kitchen, and tech products for college students.

Nyjah Harris, Senior, Old Dominion University

Nyjah Harris (@nyjahharris), a journalism major with a double minor in marketing and psychology, has been posting advice for college students since 2022, but her platform took off last summer on TikTok when she started a series called Hot Girl College Survival, featuring videos on the items you actually need in college, how to survive roommates, and more. “I think these videos help people feel prepared before going into college and they know that they have everything they need so they can have a smooth semester,” the 20-year-old says. Now, the Stafford, Virginia, native, who considers her dorm room style preppy and minimalistic, continues to post about college must-haves in different categories to her 19,300 followers.

Mia Wilson, Sophomore, Vanderbilt University

Before going to college, Mia Wilson (@miawilson4444), a 19-year-old from San Diego, researched college dorm room essentials and put together spreadsheets of what to buy. Toward the end of her freshman year, she started making TikToks on what she’d found so helpful a year prior for her 900 followers. A few months later, the human and organizational development major now has nearly 30,000 followers and more than 1 million views on a video called “Things I'd SELL MY KIDNEY to know as an incoming freshman in college!!” The rising sophomore, who describes her dorm room as modern and neutral, attributes her success to offering “real advice” to incoming freshmen.

Madison Elaina, Junior, Fordham University

Known for her pink, girly, maximalist dorm room, Madison Elaina (@citylifefashion), a 20-year-old from Boston, first started making dorm content on TikTok the summer before her freshman year as she was picking out dorm decor. (Her go-to stores include Amazon and HomeGoods, by the way.) Now, the psychology major and marketing minor at Fordham University posts her dorm room must-haves (nonnegotiables, HomeGoods hauls, necessary unnecessary decor essentials), advice about college life, and day in my life videos to her 13,400 followers.

Angie Arias, Senior, State University Of New York At Oneonta

With a style that’s “cottagecore minimalist with neutral tones,” Angie Arias (@angielolo1), a business marketing major and a communications minor, documents her college life — including what it’s like to be an RA — on TikTok for more than 14,200 followers. Through her Reset Sunday videos, the Washington Heights native cleans, organizes, and decorates her college dorm each week. “It was just a way for me to keep my mental health in check while being in college,” the 21-year-old student says of her popular Sunday Reset videos. “It's a day that you curate for yourself to do what you want, what you love, to just reset for the new week.”

Madison McKinley, Sophomore, Stanford University

During her freshman year, Madison McKinley (@madisonmckinleyy), a marketing major from Orlando, Florida, started posting GWRMs and Day in the Life videos to TikTok — and followers quickly started taking note of her cozy dorm. “Everyone thought it was really cute,” says Mckinley, who loves to shop for dorm decor at Amazon, T.J. Maxx, and HomeGoods. “I have a very girly style, so everything in my room is pink.” A tour of her dorm room has 1.2 million views, with more than 500 comments about her decor. She’s answered nearly every comment, earning her the bio on her TikTok profile: “Your new college bestie.”