- P50, 000 00 for the first prize winners
- Boost creative industry amidst COVID- 19
The annual BTC phone book cover design and Thapong Artists of the Year Awards (TAYA) competitions are back again this year with mouth-watering cash prizes for the winners.
“We are excited to be collaborating with Thapong Visual Arts Centre in empowering artists yet again especially this year when the creative industry has been hit hard by the COVID- 19 pandemic. Most creatives did not manage to create income in the past nine months due to the pandemic. This is an opportunity for BTC and Thapong to give back and help cushion the impact the virus has had on the industry,” said BTC Corporate Communications and PR Manager, Golekanye Molapisi.
Both competitions, attract upwards of P50, 000 00 for the first prize winners. The 2021 Phone Book Cover design competition for young creatives is themed Turning a Global Challenge into Local Opportunities with BTC@40 while the 2020 TAYA competition dubbed “Go jewa art (Exhibit your best work and win) targets professional artists.
The second prize for TAYA is P30 000 while winners for category one, two, and three will each receive P6000. Other stakeholders including media are not left out with a P10 000 reward up for grabs. The 2nd and 3rd prize for young creatives in the phone book cover competition attract P25, 000 and P15 000 respectively. The closing date for the submission of artworks is 31st October 2020 at 5 PM.
BTC celebrating 40 years of progress and social development is keen to nurture local talent by offering artists a platform to unleash their potential enabling them to make a living from their craft. Besides making public spaces more appealing and approachable, BTC believes that unleashing the artistic talent that abounds in our country, can help Botswana to become the hub of the creative arts industry in the SADC region drawing tourists to our cities and towns thereby creating employment.
The competitions form part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two parties towards the promotion of the arts and creative sector in Botswana. In 2018, the BTC Foundation agreed to sponsor Thapong with P1.7 million for three years to help create opportunities and open a window for the growth of the industry as an employer and revenue earner for artists.
The BTC Foundation, a vehicle through which Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTC), delivers its corporate social responsibility mandate, wants to develop the visual arts at the grassroots level and allow established artists to showcase their creatives and be recognized for their work.
Last year the BTC Phone Book cover competition was won by Lambert Baikakedi of Kgari Sechele II Senior Secondary School who walked away with P40,000. Phenyo Moatlhodi was crowned the winner of the 2019 Thapong Artist of The Year Award (TAYA), beating a host of other entrants to take home P45, 000.