The winners of the International Children’s Online Painting Competition in memory of prodigious child artist Edmund Clint were declared after the jury went through close to 39,000 works it received from the stipulated 4-16 age group across as many as 96 countries.
Mr. Kadakampally Surendran, State Minister who holds the portfolio of Kerala Tourism has announced a list of 110 winners of whom 15 are eligible for attractive tour packages with family. Ten of the 15 are from foreign countries.
Parth Joshi from Vadodara in Gujarat bagged the first prize, He, along with four other top winners from India, become eligible for a five-night Kerala travel accompanied by two members of the family. Fourteen-year-old Nafisa Tabassum Authay of Bangladesh won the second prize. She, along with nine other children from abroad who won the top prizes, will be eligible for a five-night Kerala tour with two members from the family. Aaradhya P.G, from Kerala fetched the third prize. She figures among 40 prize winners from the host state who will receive a cash award of Rs 10,000 each.
Clint (1976-83) was a native of Kochi who drew more than 25,000 pictures in 2,522 days of his life before a prolonged illness cut short his life. Born to Mr. M T Joseph (who died earlier this year) and Mrs. Chinnamma Joseph, the boy’s life and works went on to earn increasing global acclaim. Clint’s life has found portrayal in seven books and two documentaries besides in a 2017 Malayalam feature film.
Clint was aged four when he topped a painting competition where a 16-year-old emerged second. That led the organisers to fix the age bracket for this online event.
“Nowhere in the world have we heard of a painting competition inviting attention to a place (Kerala),” Shri Kadakampally Surendran said.
The 2018 edition of the competition received larger and more widespread response than the first (2017), the minister noted, adding the number of entries this time was 38,995, against 5,000 in the debut edition. This edition of the competition stands out as it was conducted on a larger global scale, he added.
The event was globally publicised by carrying out a campaign in 23 languages (11 Indian and 12 foreign), Mrs. Rani George, Secretary, Kerala Tourism said. “We estimate the information about the competition to have reached 50 lakh people,” she added.
According to Kerala Tourism Director Mr. P Bala Kiran, the online competition boosted the number of visitors at the Kerala Tourism website “While the portal got 40 lakh hits in 2017-18, the figure surged to one crore hits, from around 200 countries, so far this year,” he pointed out.
The competition jury comprised experts comprising Mr. Mohammed Yusuf, Bihar Museum Director, artists Mr Vrindavan Solanki (Gujarat), Ms Vipta Kapadia (Mumbai) and Prof Suresh K Nair (Varanasi), Mr Nemom Pushparaj, chairman, Kerala Lalithakala Akademi and Mr. M L Johnny, Art critic.
Tourism India, India’s Travel & Tourism Magazine
