Cartoon People and a2i organises cartoon contest to raise coronavirus awareness

Cartoon People with the support from a2i - Access to Information Program – have recently launched a cartoon contest called "Fight against corona" to raise awareness about the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

A total of 787 awareness cartoons were submitted by more than 300 local and international participants since the competition was announced. a2i announced a prize money of BDT 1 lac in total for the winners.

Mahatab Rashid placed first in this competition with Rakeeb Razzak and Sayed Fida Hossain placing second and third respectively.

The top 3 winners will receive 50,000 BDT for first place, 30,000 BDT for the person placing second place and lastly 20,000 BDT for the person in third place.

Ahsan Habib, cartoonist and editor of Unmad magazine, along with poet and journalist Anik Khan and Wahid Ibn Reza, writer and animated film production manager, were the juries for this cartoon competition.

Syed Rashad Imam Tanmoy, founder of cartoon people, said, "Cartoon People is a big community of cartoonists. From the very beginning of this coronavirus crisis we have been thinking about how we, the cartoonists can be useful and work to support our people. Thus, the arrangement of this competition and online exhibition."

"Cartooning is a great medium to grab attention of the mass people. The aim was to present the awareness messages through simple visuals for fellow citizens."

"All the cartoonists were very excited to contribute from the very beginning. We have focused on topics like Personal Hygiene, Social distancing and Myth busting. Once A2i came on board and announced the prize money the number of participations skyrocketed.", added Tanmoy.

The organisers have selected 154 final cartoons out of the 787 submissions to distribute for free. Anyone can use these cartoons to raise awareness.