HEC asks digital artists to showcase their skills in ECO Youth Award

Islamabad: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has asked young digital artist with a knack for rich cultural themes to showcase their talent in digital art for a chance to win the ECO Youth Award with a $1,000 cash prize.

According the details, the ECO Youth Award Celebrating Young Talent in the ECO Region called all young digital artists to submit their entries for the award, celebrating the best in digital art and graphic design from the vibrant ECO member states.

Their designs should be original, creative, and effectively communicate a message; and contribute to the culture and heritage of the ECO region, reflecting its diverse and rich traditions.

Submissions can be made on website: https://www.ecieco.org/en/special/ecoyouthaward. The Deadline to apply for the award is May 15, 2024. It is worth mentioning here that there is a need for the expansion of relations among the peoples in the ECO region, along with the significant role of youth as a major driving force for the ECO countries’ development, which has increased the importance of planning to maximize their optimal participation in the activities implemented by the ECO Cultural Institute.

The ECO Youth Award initiative has been developed to support the plan above. As per the scope of the proposal, the ECOCI Youth Award initiative has been proposed with the aim to discover young talents and to pave the way to further popularise the ECO Cultural Institute.

The proposal focuses on a purposeful and constructive competition within each member country to introduce the talented nominees (between 18 to 30 years of age). Given that there is one winner from each member country, there will be no competition between countries.

The ECOCI Youth Award will be presented to individuals between 18 to 30 years of age with outstanding contribution or achievement demonstrated by tangible results or impact in research projects/arts (preferably regional) / sociability/culture/sports; in particular, the achievements that may contribute to the goals and objectives of Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO)/ ECO Cultural Institute (ECOCI).

The award is presented annually to the winners selected from the nominations made by ECO member countries on occasions such as ECOCI Day / ECO Day. In order to identify the ECO top youth, the call for nominations will be published on ECOCI website and the Ministry of Culture of each ECO member state will nominate persons (who have already registered on the ECOCI website) up to a maximum of three. The Award Committee, comprising the Cultural Attachés of ECO member states in Tehran, will judge and select one winner from each country.

The identification and selection of the top three candidates in the ten member countries shall be entrusted to the Ministries of Culture and the corresponding organisations, to be finalised by the Award Committee in Tehran which is consistent of Cultural Attachés / representatives nominated by each member country.

The Committee shall select one top youth from the three nominations of each member state. ECO Award will be presented during a hybrid ceremony on the occasion such as ECO Day / ECOCI Day and the like.

The nominations shall be made using a registration form available on the ECOCI website at least three months in advance. The member states of the ECOCI will consider applications within two weeks and convey to the ECO Cultural Institute a shortlist of three nominations in the specified category along with their CV.