Billingy: Students did well in poster competition

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but one’s picture has to be done in a way to convey the message that the audience has to understand.{{more}}

That’s the advice that was conveyed by environmentalist Hayden Billingy to students who competed in the recent Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment poster competition.

Billingy was one of the judges of the competition, and even though he had high praise for the students for their artistic display, the environmentalist also gave them some pointers based on what he observed during the judging process.

He told the students that they had done justice in communicating the information.

However, the judges felt that there could have been a wider cross section of schools registering for the competition.

The 20 entries for the competition came from the Kingstown Anglican School, Petersville Primary, St. Vincent Grammar School, the Girls’ High School and the St. Vincent Technical College.

“We also felt the age group 8 to 12 did really outstanding. I wasn’t even aware that there was such an art movement in the schools and children at that age can produce such art that can be used for a poster.”

“I must commend you,” he told the students.

With regard to the posters, Billingy said that there were some that were disconnected with the message.

“Some children even linked chemical management with a tsunami. That is a clear indication that the teachers were not very involved in some cases with the preparation of the posters,” Billingy stated.

The environmentalist said that, nevertheless, the poster competition gives the opportunity to now put forward an education campaign to educate persons on the use and effects of chemicals on the environment.

“We felt that all in all you did an excellent job,” he added.

It was also disclosed that the judges were not satisfied with the number of persons who entered in the 16 and over age group. The St. Vincent Technical College was the lone entry.

“We were also not satisfied with the artistic display of that particular poster. Nonetheless, it conveyed the relevant information we needed.”

“We also felt that in some cases, the text was too small and in some cases, we couldn’t read them and they were in pencil. There were also cases where there was a clash between the colours that were placed on the posters and the actual text; that itself can be distracting,” Billingy advised.

The judging criteria for the posters were: chemical message, visual effects, originality and universal appeal.

The Kingstown Anglican School won the 8-12 category, while the Girls’ High School won the 12-15 and the St. Vincent Technical College won the 16 years and over category.(AA)