By Heidi Trautmann

This year’s Youth Competition exhibition I could not attend because my great grandchildren refused to leave the pool, it was just too hot. Anyway, I went the next morning.  I was very disappointed to see so very few entries this year, and unfortunately , it is becoming less and less by the year. See the two links for 2017 and 2015; in the past there were many more. What is the reason? Is it the fast living world? Is it the distraction through the unreal universe of internet and I-phones?

http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=2515167462#.W5H0rM4zaUk

http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=4144711131#.W5H1Lc4zaUk

This year there were 14 young artists registering with altogether 49 works, of which 12 artists with 28 works were accepted for the exhibition at the Atatürk Cultural Centre in Nicosia. The Jury members of this year’s competition were: Filiz Ankaç, Nilgün Güney and Şenol Özdevrim.

The winners this year are:

Merit award:

Direnç Betmezoğlu, born 1995

Kemal Behcet Caymaz, born 1989

Tünay Özyay, born 1993

Honorable mention:

Buğra Göksu, born 1996

Jury award:

Ibrahim Ince, born 2000

The other artists accepted are: Hasan Kayiplar (2002), Ali Genç (1984), Celal Atikler (1994), Ilayda Kürde (2001), Ilayda Özbekoğlu (2001),  Nurtane Karagil, Osman Onalt Alicik (2000)

Many of those young artists who have been in the last years’ final lists have in the meantime entered their professional life, have become teachers themselves or are following another creative road. Art education will be more important as time goes, I am positive.  Municipalities and private initiatives are entertaining alternative creative circles and schools, they have understood that it is important to develop the creativity of young kids in order to be successful in school and later life. A person who had intensive art education will be more observant than others.

So I do hope that the interest in this governmental painting competition will improve again and will next year show more entries.