Literary Art Contest: Call for Artists

The National Book Council is issuing a call for artists to submit artwork for a Literary Art Contest, in which competitors will be asked to create a work of art based on a Maltese literary text of their own choice. A total of ten artworks will be chosen by an independent jury based on a set of criteria listed below. The chosen artworks will be exhibited in the Perellos Suite of the Mediterranean Conference Centre for the duration of the upcoming edition of the Malta Book Festival, 8-12 November 2017.

The submitted works may include paintings, digital art, photography or sculptures. All the submitted works will be offered for sale during the exhibition at a price stipulated by the artist himself, who will be the sole beneficiary of the sale. In addition, the same independent jury will select an exceptional work to be the recipient of the jury’s special commendation. All the artists whose work is selected will be honoured during the opening of the exhibition on 8 November, where they will be handed a certificate. The artist whose work receives the special commendation of the jury will also receive a monetary prize of 1000 euros.

Interested artists are required to read carefully the selection criteria and the rules as they appear hereunder. Applications should include high resolution photographs of the original work and a quote from the literary text that inspired the artwork.

The Criteria:

1. Originality of concept: Special consideration will be given to works that show a genuine attempt to capture, in visual terms, the themes and motifs of the literary work in an original and surprising manner.

2. Technique: Technical accomplishment in the medium of expression will be carefully evaluated by the jury.

3. Literary value of the chosen text: Artists are encouraged to think about the literary value of the text that they choose as their source of inspiration. While it should be clear that this criterion does not carry the same weight as criteria (1) and (2), the jury must also evaluate the chosen artworks in terms of their appropriateness in an exhibition which will feature in the cultural programme of the Malta Book Festival.

The Rules:

1. All submitted works must be original works of art, created by the artist submitting them and must not have appeared in previous exhibitions or in print form anywhere before.

2. Only works illustrating locally-published literary texts will be considered.

3. In case of paintings, digital art or photography, the artworks should not exceed 90×90 cms and in case of sculptures they should not exceed a height of 180 cms and occupy a width of more than 30 cms radius.

4. The decision of the jury regarding both the selection of the works for the exhibition and the attribution of its special commendation is final.

5. Only applications which will provide the required information will be considered. Every application should include a) high resolution photos of the artwork (in case of sculptures, it is advisable to have at least three photographs of the work), b) the title of the literary text referenced by the artwork and a quote from the text and c) a signed declaration by the artist in which it is declared that the work is original and has not appeared in previous exhibitions or in print form before.

Applications should be addressed to Mr.Joe Debattista at National Book Council, Central Public Library, Prof. J. Mangion Street, Floriana, FRN 1800, Malta and must be received by 31 July 2017. For further information members of the public are advised to contact John Grech at john.f.grech@gov.mt or Simona Cassano at simona.cassano@gov.mt