The Trade Office of Swiss Industries (TOSI) in Taipei yesterday selected 44 winning paintings from around 2,500 submitted by local primary-school students in a competition aimed at promoting tourism in the European country.
The office began the contest, which was open to primary school students born between 2000 and 2005, in March and participants could choose to paint any Swiss landscape, landmark, person or custom as their subject matter.
By the submission deadline on Aug. 31, 2,438 participants were vying for prizes worth over NT$700,000 (US$24,080), including Taipei-Zurich round-trip flights, bicycles, watches and money, TOSI said.
“We didn’t expect such a big number of enthusiastic participants,” TOSI Director Jost Feer said on the sidelines of the awards ceremony, adding he had only expected about 800 contestants, but the number of participants turned out to be three times that.
Praising the submissions as creative and high quality, Feer said he plans to hold an exhibition at Taipei Main Station in March and an auction for children’s charity groups in the second half of next year.
Following a photography competition last year, the drawing competition was aimed at fostering ties between Switzerland and Taiwan, the director said. He added there will be different competitions held each year.
This year, participants were divided into two categories — those born between 2000 and 2002, and those between 2003 and 2005. The first-prize winners of the two groups received a travel package worth NT$200,000 and a summer camp package worth NT$60,000 respectively.
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