- Contributed
'Young Dread' by Howard Moo Young - 2003 bronze.
Georgia Hemmings, Staff Reporter
A RECORD 849 entries were submitted to the 2004 National Photography competition (popularly known as the Festival photography competition) organised by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC).
This represents a 178 per cent increase over the 735 entries received last year, and reflects continued interest in the competition among photographic enthusiasts.
With judging now complete, The Sunday Gleaner has learnt that 61 photographers have received awards from the overall 81 who submitted works. The numbers comprise 15 gold medals, 24 silver, 39 bronze and 185 certificates of merit. Last year, 305 awards were made, inclusive of 15 silver medals, 50 bronze and 240 certificates of merit.
The competition had invited the submission of black and white and colour prints, slides, manipulated prints and entries from youth in 12 classes.
The classes are landscape/seascape, flora/fauna, architecture/engineering, adult portraiture, child photography, still life/table top, photo-journalism, abstract/creative, figure/study, fashion/glamour, sports/games, and Jamaican culture.
The majority of entries were received in the colour prints category (403), followed by slides (237), black and white prints (172), manipulated prints (27), and the youth category (10).
"This year, we had 91 more colour prints, and 55 more slides than last year," Sana Rose, JCDC spokesperson told The Sunday Gleaner. "On the down side, there were fewer entries in the youth and black and white categories."
The works were judged on the basis of impact, composition, and technical qualities, among other criteria.
FINE ARTS COMPETITION
Judging has also been completed in the National Fine Arts competition, also organised by the JCDC. No gold medal was awarded, but a total of 55 other awards have been made, comprising one silver medal, eight bronzes, and 46 certificates of merits.
From information obtained, this year's competition attracted 214 entries a 3.2 per cent decline from the 221 received last year.
Submissions were received from 20 amateur artists, 23 professionals, and 65 in the youth section which display works by young Jamaican artists in two age groups ( under 14, and 15 to 18 years).
Submissions included drawings, ceramics, sculpture/3D designs, fibre arts, leather arts, paintings, printmaking, and collage/photo montage. And, as in previous years, painting attracted the majority of entries (97 works), followed by drawings (67), ceramics (16), collage/photomontage (12), and sculpture (nine), with fewer entries in the remaining categories.
Ms. Rose told The Sunday Gleaner that a joint visual arts exhibition is being organised to display the award-winning works in the two competitions.
The awards ceremony and exhibition is scheduled to open on Tuesday, July 20 at the Shortwood Teachers' College auditorium, starting at 6:00 p.m. The show is scheduled to run up to August 5.
