Eastern Cape artists will be afforded the opportunity to design the coveted trophies for the winners of the first-ever Ironman 70.3 World Championship to be hosted by an African country in September.
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Mayoral Committee Member for Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Siyasanga Sijadu, said the competition winner will be catapulted into the international spotlight as the cream of Ironman triathlon will be competing on the day.
“We are inviting artists to submit concept designs of the winning male and female trophies before or on 16 March,” said Sijadu.
“Since we are only in the first round of submissions, artists are not expected to present final artworks and their creations can be in any format. It goes without saying that we would like to see outstanding and innovative designs as the trophies are an integral part of the overall experience of the athletes,” she said.
“It is therefore crucial that our designs stand out and improve on what other host cities had on their winning podia,” said Sijadu.
She said the first round of selections will take place on Tuesday 20th March 2018 at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum.
Sijadu said the concept proposals must not exceed a space of 2m x 2m when fully installed.
“From these proposals, ten concept trophies will be selected to take part in the next stage of the competition. The top ten presentations will be displayed at the Standard Bank Ironman African Championship in April when the public will be able to vote for their favourite design at the exhibition.”
The winner will be selected at the end of April 2018 and the winning artist/s will receive prize money of R 10,000.00.
Entry forms will be available at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, the Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture buildings in St Georges Park and at local galleries.
They can also be downloaded from the NMM Art Museum and NMBM websites.
Closing date for submissions to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum is Friday 16th March 2018.
(Image supplied: Ironman 70.3 World Championship Chattanooga trophy)
