The winners of the 3rd High School Design Competition, organised by Arkın University of Creative Arts and Design (ARUCAD), received their awards at a special ceremony held at the ARUCAD Conference Hall on Thursday, September 22.
The award ceremony of the High School Design Competition on the theme of, “We Can Stop the Climate Crisis”, organised by ARUCAD for the third time, was held at the University Conference Hall on Thursday, September 22, with the participation of the competitors.
The first prize was awarded to Ekaterina Turkovskaia from Kyrgyzstan Ecology and Economics High School, the second prize to Hande Gül Gürses from Levent College in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and the third prize to Şevval Boyacı from Bakırköy Fine Arts High School. The Erbil Arkın Special Awards were given to Molly Lashley from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus English School of Kyrenia and to Batuhan Kalınsazlıoğlu from Atatürk Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School of the Republic of Turkey. In addition, contributions were made in order to meet the needs of the painting workshops of the high schools of the first three winners.
After the first three winners were determined in the competition, where the jury members comprised Faculty of Arts Professor. Dr. Turan Aksoy, Institute Director and Head of Visual Communication Design Department Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nuran Öze, Head of Plastic Arts Department Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eser Keçeci, Faculty Member of the Department of Architecture Assist. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cem Yardımcı, Head of Ceramics Department Assist. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elçin Şener, Head of Advertising Design and Communication Department Assist. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hakan Karahasan, a selection was made from the designs of the other participants, based on the evaluations of ARUCAD Founder Erbil Arkın and the members of the jury, and were then submitted to a vote for the social media awards. As a result of the voting, the winner of the Social Media Award was Derviş Eren Şimşek from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Nicosia Anatolian Fine Arts High School.
The ceremony started with the screening of a promotional film shot by the university’s academics, students and staff at ARUCAD Studios, using the university’s facilities and equipment. Then, a selection of images from the exhibitions prepared by the first graduates of the University as a graduation project, and the 2022 End of Spring Term Exhibition, was presented.
Speaking at the award night, ARUCAD Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Assist. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sinan Arkın stated that this year’s competition, which is multifaceted and complicated in terms of its subject, has very rich works both conceptually and aesthetically, and added, “Climate change is a multidimensional issue, it has a scientific side relating to how it happens, it has an economic and social dimension that concerns society. But most importantly, it has an emotional side. It is the emotions that drive people. The works entered in the competition show that there is no more impressive way than art to express the emotional side of all issues, not just climate change. The main prize that this competition gives to the participants is the feeling of trust it gives them. In an environment where art is not seen as a serious profession by society, if we can give the participants the slightest confidence in planning a career related to art and design, then this competition has achieved its purpose.”
Speaking at the ceremony, ARUCAD Rector, Prof. Dr. Asım Vehbi said, “The Inter-High School Design Competitions, which we have organised for the third time this year, have different topics every year. Our theme this year was ‘We Can Stop the Climate Crisis’. There is a serious climate disaster awaiting us. With this competition, we wanted to increase sensitivity of this issue and to draw attention to global warming by enabling the participants to put forward both ideas and art. As ARUCAD, we aim to provide opportunities for students to reveal their talents, to guide them while planning their careers, and to enable them to reveal new artistic visions.” Underlining that the number of participants is increasing every year, Vehbi added, “While there were 18 local participants in the first year and 42 in the second year, this year the competition was held with 122 participants from 10 different countries. It is a source of pride for us that five of our participants, who received awards in our previous competitions, are now students at ARUCAD.”
The competition, which was held on an international scale for the first time this year, was attended by 10 different countries, including Turkey, the United Kingdom and Japan. Out of 203 works sent by 122 students from 51 different high schools, 82 of them were shown in exhibitions as a result of the evaluations. The winning works will be exhibited in the Foyer Area of ARUCAD Conference Hall for 2 months.
After the certificate presentation ceremony, the award night continued with a cocktail attended by the talented young people, their parents and ARUCAD’s artist academics.