MARIGOT--Claudio Arnell (19) was declared the winner of the Collectivité's new emblem design competition when the long-awaited results and finalists were announced at a press conference Friday.

Arnell, a first year architectural décor student at École Nationale Supérieur des Arts Appliqués et Métiers dArt (ENSAAMA), Olivier de Serres, in Paris swayed the judges with his Flying Pelican canvas featuring the symbols the island is best known for, such as the Flamboyant and Coralita flowers, the border monument, slavery walls, salt, sea, sunrise, mountains, and shells. These were all headed by a scroll depicting the paper the Treaty of Concordia was written on.

Artist and dance director of Dance Dimensions Academy Gersha Hendrickson was runner-up. Third place went to art director Kevin Baly, fourth place to artist Nancy Alliotte, and fifth place to graphic arts student Iseaha Pantophlet.

The finalists all received a 500-euro prize, while the winner was additionally awarded 2,000 euros. Each finalist gave a short presentation of their submitted work.

"With the sunrise, and the Pelican, the idea was to show new beginnings and the new future of the Collectivité...the Pelican taking off, but keeping a protective eye on the population," explained Arnell of his winning design that took two months to complete using acrylics and water colours. "I also included the yellow butterflies which are common on the island and wanted to recall the texture of the paper the Treaty was written on. I used a tinted grey canvas because that brings out the colours.

"I'm very happy and proud and would like to thank my family and friends who supported me, and to congratulate the other finalists. Everyone adds their personal touch to their work and that's what makes art difficult to judge."

Fifty persons submitted presentations for the competition and participants were required to follow specific rules and guidelines under the theme, "The Future Inspired by Our Heritage." The competition was driven by the need for a fresh emblem to go with the Collectivité's new logos.

A judging panel composed of six men and six women coming from various professional backgrounds had the difficult task of judging the work. Territorial Councillor Guillaume Arnell was Head of the Jury.

"We had to have separate judging sessions of 15 entries at a time in order to reduce the original 50 down to a final 20," said Arnell. "It was a difficult task."

Judging criteria and scoring included written presentation (15 points), artistic merit (15 points), technical aspect (30 points), integration of nature, cultural and historical elements (20 points), and overall presentation (20 points).

President Frantz Gumbs noted he was extremely pleased to see such an abundance of talent and creativity exhibited by the competition. The Territorial Council still has to validate the jury's decision though this is expected to be a mere formality as the Council has already seen the work.

Competition Coordinator Felicia Baly noted the delay in bringing the competition to a conclusion was partly because the designs had to be copyright protected before they could be presented to the public.