US$1 700 up for grabs in Unesco contest Unesco

Showbiz Reporter
At least 30 emerging and established creatives are in the running for Unesco’s ResiliArt Illustration contest with prizes worth US$1 700 up for grabs.

Open to talent from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the contest is part of Unesco’s global initiative directed towards sharing artistic perspectives on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the creative sector.

Set to close for entries this Sunday, the contest is a display of emotive illustrations presented in both traditional and modern form by people between the ages of 16 and 25 years.

According to the contest’s organisers, the entries admitted into the contest thus far, individually share varying perspectives of society’s role in preparing for a post-Covid-19 environment by visualising different themes including inspiration, identity, disassociation, isolation, death, mental health and apathy.

“The most common material used in developing the illustrations have been acrylic paint, charcoal and markers. This week, the platform received an increase in modern illustrations created using digital software such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Medibang Paint, Krita and Sketchbook Pro, to name a few,” contest organisers said.

Despite impacting on the financial stability of the creative sector, the ongoing national lockdowns in the region due to the coronavirus have proved to be a source of inspired thought and thought provoking illustrations.

Highly representative of the potential of African talent to communicate and solve the continent’s problems, the illustrations will be judged by a panel of creatives who are established illustrators and graphic designers able to critically review the entries.

The panel consists of the following talent: Claire Dongo, Eugene Mapondera, Akulu Lipenga, Lucky Sithole, Tash Dowell and Charles Jijita. Combined, the panellists represent traditional and digital illustrators and will be tasked with selecting the top 10 entries.

The top three entries scoring the highest marks will be issued with the following prizes US$400 (third prize), US$450 (second prize) and the highest point scorer will receive US$550.

Also part of the contest is the #ResiliArt Audience Award which has a prize of US$300. The winner will be selected through a public vote that will be open from June 1 to 7 on the Unesco Regional Office for Southern Africa (Rosa) Facebook page.

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