‘ODYSSEY: EXPLORE, EXPOUND, EXERT’ Photo Manipulation Competition-2021

The photo manipulation competition titled ‘ODYSSEY: EXPLORE, EXPOUND, EXERT’ was the first grand initiative organized by the Pride of the year 2021/2022. The competition was themed ‘Earth, a journey through time’ and was open for undergraduates from all universities, including state and private.

Works related to this project began on the 1st of May 2021, following the installation of the new Pride and extended till June 16th, where the winners were officially announced on the Facebook Page of our club ‘J’pura Flames Lite’. The entire process was held through virtual platforms due to the prevailing pandemic situations of the country.

Financial support for this initiative was provided by the gift partners; KUKI, SC Graphics and Promotions, and DMartz. The panel of judges included three skilled graphic designers; Chatura Goonatilake (Founder & Director at CG Shift), Bhagya Madanasinghe (Charted Architect and Illustrator & Owner at Moving Doodles), and Isuru Hathurusinghe (2D/3D Animator, Game Designer, Visual Developer, and Illustrator & Owner at IZZAARTS).

The competition was organized with an insight of identifying talented graphic designers among the undergraduates of our country. Hence, only the entries from university undergraduates were accepted to compete in this contest. All the competitors were expected to create a photo manipulation aligning the theme ‘Earth, a journey through time. The entries were accepted from the 8th to the 31st of May 2021. All the received entries were forwarded to the judges to proceed further. The judging process mainly focused on four major criteria; relativity to the theme, creativity and originality of the designer, colour balancing techniques, and editing skills used. Also, extra points were allocated based on the personal ideas of the judges. Eight of the entries were nominated by the judges, among which the winners were selected.

Awards were given under two categories namely ‘The Best Manipulation’ and ‘The Most Popular Manipulation’. Best Manipulation was awarded based on the scores the entries received and Most Popular Manipulation was awarded based on the likes the entries received on the FB page. Three places were awarded under the Best Manipulation category, won by Dilan Samarasinghe (University of Sri Jayewardenepura), Amala Hasasrinda (University of Sri Jayewardenepura), and Charuka Achintha (University of Sri Jayewardenapura) respectively. The Most Popular Manipulation based on the Facebook likes was awarded to Dilan Induwara (University of Sri Jayewardenepura).

It was one of our exciting journeys, where we searched for the better and revealed the bests!

Written by : Marin Rachel
Designed by : Rusiru Gunarartne