The best of the Creole-speaking World Young Artists competition, which targets 4- to 21-year-olds, yesterday morning received their prize in a ceremony at the Carrefour des Arts gallery, Anvil, and also exhibited their work for the public.

It was the chief executive of the National Council for Arts and Crafts (NACC), Jimmy Savy, who launched the event in the presence of the principal secretary for Culture, Cecile Kalebi; ambassador for culture, Patrick Victor; representatives of the National Council for Youth; band participants; Your parents are the representatives of these schools.

This annual event on the Creole Festival calendar is one that gives these students the opportunity to demonstrate their artistic talent and this year they were working under the stamp of traditional instruments.

When he was addressing them, Mr. Savy said that this term allowed the young artists to research and deepen their knowledge about the instruments that musicians played in the past to enlighten the population and bring joy to life.

“The objective of NACC, like every year, is to make young people adventure and discover the traditional cultural heritage that makes us what we are today. At the same time that they appreciate evolution and its wonders, it is important that they know what existed before. As our motto says, “A bridge to the past, a bridge to the future”, according to Mr. Savy.

There are eight schools participating in this competition and this includes Anse Boileau primary school with 16 drawings, Pointe Larue 3 drawings, Baie Lazare 4 drawings, Bel Ombre 12 drawings, and the secondary school, Mont Fleuri with 3 works, International School Seychelles (ISS) with 85, and Anse Royale with 2. Whereas the Institute for Land where post-secondary had 6 markets and 5 designs.

The winners in each category are as follows: for 4 to 7-year-olds, the winner is Riyadh Rose from Anse Boileau Primary School, who won the materials provided by NACC and 2 vouchers for a tour of the small submarine sponsored by Semi sub Seychelles.

For the 8 to 13-year-old category, Abigael Nourrice from ISS is the grand winner and she also won the same prize.

The winner of the 14 to 17-year-old category is Chloe Rioux as well as ISS who received a voucher offered by semi-sub cafe and ground materials.

In the 18 to 21-year-old category, the prize went to Joshua Nourrice from the Lar Institute, who also received the same prize.

Fodre notes that all the winners also received a trophy in the form of a coconut offered by the National Youth Council (SNYC).

All 136 works were also rewarded where the young artists received a small gift of the year, which was accepted by a representative of each school.

After that, the guests could see the paintings and drawings of the artists inside the Carrefour des Arts.

One of the youngest participants, Abigael Nourrice, who was quite shy, explained her work to the Seychelles NATION .

“I chose the mutya drum for my drawing because it is part of our culture.”

Behind him in this category is Bel Ombre primary student, Mathia Charlot in second position. “I’m happy to draw the present. I want to be in the competition and I’m happy that I came second. I’m going to put this coconut-de-mer trophy in my collection,” Mathia said.

Samuel Confiance also came second in his 18 to 21-year-old category and told Seychelles NATION that he showed the music in his table. “Like the kind of feeling music evokes, it’s colorful, clear and alive even if we can’t see it, what I put in my painting is what shows music for me,” he said.

The 19-year-old artist says that even though he did not expect to win a prize, he is proud because he knows that the competition was really strong this year.

The Kreol Festival Committee thanked all the ‘ sponsors ‘ who came forward to make this event a success and this includes Semi-sub Seychelles, Cable & Wireless Seychelles (Limited), NACC, SNYC and Doubleclick.

Source: Seychelles Nation