Turkey: Cartoon contest to raise awareness on addiction

By Davut Demircan

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish Green Crescent is organizing a cartoon contest to raise awareness of the youth against addictions.

The theme of the 4th International Green Crescent Cartoon Contest is the Importance of Living Healthy in the 100th Anniversary of the Fight Against Addictions.

The contest is open for Turkish and foreign cartoonists, amateur or professional, around the world.

Turkish Green Crescent General Director Sultan Isik, in a quoted statement, said: "Last year, our contest saw a total of 414 cartoonists from 51 countries, with 787 entries. The number of total entries to the contest in three years is 2,848."

"In addition to carrying the mission of combating addiction in the best way around the world, our contribution to the development and spread of cartoon art makes us very happy. The 70% of the cartoons belonged to foreigners. Azerbaijani Soltan Soltanli, Belgian Luc Descheemaeker, Brazilian Silvano Mello, Iranian Kambiz Derambakhsh and Serbian Borislav Stankovic were among the attendees of the contest in previous years," she added.

Reminding that 2020 is the 100th anniversary of Green Crescent, Isik said the organization looks forward to see inspirational work from cartoonists all over the world reflecting their cultural perspectives.

Submissions for the competition started on Jan. 1, and runs through Feb. 14, 2020 at the organization's website yesilay.org.tr.

The result of the contest will be announced on Feb. 24 and the award ceremony will be on June 19.

Green Crescent will reward the winner with 10,000 Turkish liras ($1,670), and a total of 35,000 Turkish-lira (around $5,850) worth of awards will be distributed.

The Turkish Green Crescent, established in 1920, is a non-profit and non-governmental organization that empowers youth and adults with factual information about drugs so that they can make informed decisions against different kinds of addictions, such as alcohol, tobacco, drug, and gambling, according to its website.

Today, the organization operates within Turkey in 24 branches, with 64 representatives in different cities around the country.