Winners of blue economy drawing competition rewarded |26 July 2023

Seychelles Nation

• Prize-giving coincides with African Day of Seas and Oceans

Winners of the Comic Strip competition launched by the department of blue economy were awarded their prizes in a ceremony held yesterday at the department’s headquarters at Maison Collet.

This was in the presence of the Minister for Fisheries and the Blue Economy, Jean-François Ferrari, and principal secretary for the blue economy department, Phylianne Ernesta.

The competition was open to all Seychellois individuals aged 12 years and above and the contestants competed in four categories, namely 12-18 years old, 19-30 years old, 31-39 years old and 40+ years old.

The purpose of the activity was to engage with the public in an enjoyable way, allowing them creative freedom to depict their interpretation of various blue economy themes, such as aquatic sports, aquaculture, marine biotechnology, and circular economy.

Yesterday’s prize-giving ceremony was part of celebrations for the African Day of Seas and Oceans on July 25, initiated by the African Union at its 22nd AU summit in January 2014, where it designated the period from 2015 to 2025 as the ‘Decade of African Seas and Oceans’.

Nathan Didon, whose work showed the potential of marine biotechnology, was the winner in the 12-18 years category. Joshua Nourrice took the overall prize in the 19-30 years category while his mother, Doris Nourrice, won the prize for the 31-39 years division. Carol Athanasius was the overall winner for the 40+ years category.

In her opening remarks, the department’s senior monitoring and evaluation officer, Gabriella Gonthier, said they received some fascinating work from the public.

“Despite the varying perspectives, there was one common thread that emerged in every drawing; the recognition of the ocean as life’s greatest resource. It was truly inspiring to see this shared understanding among participants,” she said.

Doris Nourrice said she was extremely happy to win the first prize as she greatly appreciates art and the blue economy. “For me it’s a privilege to have obtained this prize today, as blue economy combined with tourism are topics that I love to work with,” said Ms Nourrice.

For his part Joshua said that he is proud of his work as it was very tough to think of a scenario to draw. “It was really a challenge as I had to do research on the topic but in the end it was all worth it and it came out great,” he pointed out.

Other than overall prizes, there were also prizes awarded for best effort which went to Chris Sinon, and also a star prize, presented to Anni Yang, who was not present at the ceremony. Her work showed the potential of the ocean resources to deliver economic opportunities through research and development in marine biotechnology.

The accompanying photos show the winners of the different categories being rewarded.

Diane Laramé

Photos by Louis Toussaint