All set for 2010 Visual Arts Competition

The event billed to take place on October 19th, 2010 at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, is split into primary, secondary, tertiary and professional categories. It has attracted a multitude of entities from all over Nigeria.It started with the receipt of two hundred and fifty works in the first edition and increased to five […]

The event billed to take place on October 19th, 2010 at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, is split into primary, secondary, tertiary and professional categories. It has attracted a multitude of entities from all over Nigeria.
It started with the receipt of two hundred and fifty works in the first edition and increased to five hundred works last year. So far, about six hundred and eighty works have been received.
Mr. Abdullahi Muku, Ag. Director-General of National Gallery of Art, stated that, “The National Visual Art Competition is the largest and well conceived art contest in Nigeria, having awarded more than N14 million to winners since inception.” He described it as laudable considering the fact that the NGA is only lending her widow’s mite to youth development and emancipation in Nigeria.
The Project Team Leader, Mr. Adamu Tanko Ibrahim, said this year’s edition will be even more spectacular than the preceding ones and give younger artists the opportunity to shine. He said, “Adequate preparations are being put in place and were started well ahead of time to ensure a very successful outing. A large number of bright young artists will step out of the shadows into the limelight, to celebrate creative excellence in visual art surrounded by an environment conducive for freedom of thought and expression.”
The competition was initiated with the aim of discovering the artistic genius of Nigerian pupils and students in various art forms as well as to assist them and professional artists develop their skills and creative abilities. 
Tagged ‘Electoral Reforms as Ethics for Good Governance’, this year’s theme, according to Mr. Ibrahim, was primarily chosen to allow Nigerians to express themselves beyond the traditional value of their works.  This, hopefully, will provide the vital information that will in turn be part of the policy statement of this administration in their quest for a credible election, where every vote counts in the future polls in Nigeria.
There are three qualifying rounds in the National Visual Art Competition. The first round covers preliminary screening, where entries that fail to meet the pre-requisites of the designated after they are submitted to the National Gallery of Art offices nationwide.  In the second round, entries will be short-listed to a maximum of three entries per category at the six geo-political zones of the country. In the final round of qualification, a panel of judges will unanimously select the winners and two runner-ups.  From each category, winners will be invited to the awards and prize-giving ceremony, after which they will return home with prizes and trophies.  All winning entries will be on display at the venue of the ceremony.