Guide to the Judging of the 11th Annual Yamaha Children's "Seascape Painting Contest" With Barcelona Gold Medalist Kyoko Iwasaki as guest judge

On Nov. 11, 1999, the Japan Marine Sports Promotion Foundation (JMPF) will hold the final judging for the 11th Annual Yamaha Children's Seascape Painting Contest and announce the winners in a ceremony at the Toranomon Pastoral in Minato Ward, Tokyo. This contest is open to children of elementary school age or younger throughout Japan and, by having the children paint pictures of the sea or beach near where they live, it aims to encourage feelings of familiarity and concern for the sea as a means of fostering in the participants a consciousness of preserving the marine environment. Again this year, submissions were received during the period from July 1 to Oct. 20 on the themes of "The Beautiful Ocean" (environmental conservation) and "The Working Ocean" (fishing ports, etc.) and "Ocean Fun" (marine sports and pool swimming), with a total of 8,365 paintings were received. Among these were some 90 paintings from children overseas in countries like Indonesia and Mexico who found out about the contest over the Internet. The paintings showed rich variety, ranging from scenes of multi-colored fish swimming in beautiful ocean waters to scenes of fishermen bringing in their catch or processing the fish in fishing ports or villages as well as scenes like groups of friends playing happily in the water at pools. In the variety of the subjects painted and the depth of sensitivity expressed in them, you can feel a strong message from these young people who will inherit the world in the 21st century.

The panel of seven contest judges, led by Mr. Kazuo Kudo, Chairman of the artist group Sogenkai and a member of Nitten, will decide the winners in three age groups; upper elementary (4~6th grade), lower elementary (1~3rd grade) and nursery school-age. In addition to one Minister of Education prize and one Minister of State prize, two Gold prizes, three Silver prizes, three Bronze prizes and ten Honorable Mention prizes will be awarded in each of the age groups, as well as special prizes including a Japan Fisherina Association Chairman's prize, a Kaiyo Recreation Association Chairman's prize and a Yamaha Motor Company prize. Adding their own unique perspectives to the judging this year will be two guest judges: Mr. Satoru Murai, Chairman of the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan, and Ms. Kyoko Iwasaki, Barcelona Olympic Gold Medalist in swimming (presently a student of Nihon University).

The winning paintings from this contest will be displayed at the Yamaha Motor booth at the Tokyo International Boat Show to be held from Feb. 10 ~13 next year at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center as well as at various Yamaha exhibition events to be held around Japan. There are also plans to show the works on Yamaha Motor's Internet home page (http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/) in order to make a broad international appeal for the cause this contest represents.

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