An eagerly anticipated competition by young artistic minds across many schools in Kuwait, the Art Olympiad is the annual art competition of the season that is hosted by the Landmark Group. On the 18th of January, the competition took to new heights, challenging the youth to present their best efforts throughout a fun an entertaining atmosphere filled with art as well as fun competitions. Amidst all the buzz and excitement that took place at the award ceremony, Landmark Group awarded the artistic talents of eight students at the fifth Art Olympiad. As with each passing year, the Art Olympiad involves competitions in two main age groups; students between the age group of 9–11 years and 12-14 years. Hosted at the JW Marriott Hotel, the Art Olympiad witnessed an overwhelming response from the sixteen participating schools.
With an inspiring judging panel boasting esteemed painters from our society as well as creative leaders, the paintings were judged by famous Kuwaiti artists Assad Bunashi and Ahmad Jowhar along with Mr. Houssam Afyouni, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Raad Afyouni, and Mr. Hussam Yassin, Managing and Creative Director –Lemonad. A total of eight winners were selected at the end of the Olympiad on the basis of Creativity, Workmanship, Overall impression and Relevance to the theme. Whilst the students competed in various fun competitions after the submissions were made to the judges, the lengthy waiting period infused with entertainment proved to show that the paintings of the young talented artists offered the judges a challenging task to choose the best of the best.
As every year entails, the students were to draw inspiration from a choice of themes, this year’s competition themes, which the students could select from, included: wildlife, a favorite monument, my desire, the future gadget of 2020, what I want to be when I grow up, and finally, create your own hero/character and name it. Not only so, special categories were allocated for the most colorful artwork and the most creative artwork. Once it was time for the students to begin drawing, the event hall became quiet as the students took to their art, as all themes, despite their apparent differences, brought out the unique talents and skills of the participants. Visitors and attendees intently observed the students as they toiled away at their drawing boards, truly captivated by the students’ total engrossment in portraying their individual visions.
After a lengthy period of deliberation and artistic critiquing, the following winners were selected. Awarded for the most creative artwork was Dana Al Ghazali – The English School (TES), and most colorful, Isabella Joseph – Fahaheel Al Watanieh Ind. Pvt. School Ahmadi (FAIPS). In the first age group, 9-11 years, the winners included: First Winner, Naina Parasher – Fahaheel Al Watanieh Ind. Pvt. School Ahmadi (FAIPS), Second Winner, Jade Buchawski – The English School (TES), and Third Winner, Hanan Abdullah – Fahaheel Al Watanieh Ind. Pvt. School Ahmadi (FAIPS). In the second age group, 12-14 years, the winners included: First Winner, Keerthiga Nagarajan – Indian Educational School (IES), Second Winner, Catherine Biju – Indian Educational School (IES),
Third Winner , Sonali T. Rane – Fahaheel Al Watanieh Ind. Pvt. School Ahmadi (FAIPS). Each of the winning students was awarded with a number of exciting gifts. One of the winners said “It was fun taking part in this competition, I thank Landmark Group for giving me an opportunity to express myself and I look forward to participating in the competition next year as well.” The winners received certificates and trophies as well, and their schools were given a plaque of appreciation. To instill the belief that participation and efforts are worthy of rewards, all students who participated in the Art Olympiad were provided with gifts.
Mr. Saibal Basu, Chief Operating Officer of Landmark Group Kuwait said, “Every year the Olympiad proves to be a great accomplishment; it only gets bigger and better. Our heartfelt congratulations go out to the winners as well as all the other participants who made this year’s judging challenging, as well as exciting. By conducting the Art Olympiad on an annual basis, we hope to raise the spirits of the students and encourage them to express their views strongly and in an innovative manner about anything and everything that concerns their world. We look forward to preparing for the sixth Art Olympiad next year. We are really pleased with the winning artworks and we think that they look absolutely brilliant. I would like to thank our esteemed panel of judges who have helped make this event bigger and better year after year. With such an overwhelming response we are definitely looking forward to preparing for the sixth Art Olympiad next year.
“I would like to thank Assad Bunashi and Ahmad Jowhar for being on the judging panel for committing again this year as a judge and am also happy with the fact that Houssam Afyouni Founder and Chief Creative Officer , Raad Afyouni and Hussam Yassin, Managing and Creative Director, Lemonad, came to co judge the competition” further concluded Saibal.
The participating schools for this year’s Olympiad included: Indian English Academy School, Dasman Model School, Kuwait Bilingual School, Fahaheel Al Watanieh Ind Pvt. School Ahmadi, The English School Salmiya, Indian Educational School, Indian Community School, Khaitan, Kuwait English School, Salwa, Carmel School Kuwait, Kuwait American School, Salmiya, The English School Fahaheel, Ajail Bilingual School, Canadian Bilingual School, Kuwait International English School, Kuwait National English School and Al Ghanim Bilingual School.
For further information about the Art Olympiad and the Landmark group, please visit www.cplmg.com.
