Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations

rdf:langString Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations

rdf:langString February 2019

rdf:langString WP:CHRONO: lists of award winners are supposed to be arranged from oldest at the top to newest at the bottom, not backward

rdf:langString The Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations (Japanese: 野間国際絵本原画コンクール) was organised by Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) supported by the Noma International Book Development Fund from 1978 to 2008. It was an annual competition, ending in 2008. The prize was named after , the fourth president of the Japanese family-run publishing house Kodansha Ltd. At the 1963 Frankfurt Book Fair, he gave a speech entitled "Cultural Exchange in Publishing", in which he said “In order to advance and sustain world peace, it is most important to develop international mutual understanding by means of cross-cultural interchange through publishing.” In this spirit, several Noma Awards were set up: the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, established in 1980; the Noma Literary Prize, also established in 1980; and the Noma Award for the Translation of Japanese Literature, established in 1980 to commemorate Kodansha’s 80th anniversary. The aim of the competition was to discover up-and-coming illustrators, graphic designers and artists in Asia (except Japan), the Pacific, Africa, Arab States, and Latin America & the Caribbean, and to provide an opportunity at which they could present their works to offer incentives for their creative activities. Prizewinning works were displayed in exhibitions such as the International Library of Children's Literature in Ueno, Tokyo, and the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava in Slovakia.