Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations facts for kids

The Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations was a special competition for artists who drew pictures for children's books. It was held every year from 1978 to 2008. This contest helped find new and talented illustrators from many different countries around the world. It was organized by the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO.

Why the Noma Concours Was Created

The Noma Concours was set up to help talented artists from places like Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It gave them a chance to show their amazing artwork to the world. The goal was to encourage them to keep creating beautiful illustrations for children's books.

The competition was named after a very important person named Shoichi Noma. He was the head of a big Japanese publishing company called Kodansha. Shoichi Noma believed that sharing books and stories between different cultures could help people understand each other better and even help create world peace. He once said that "cultural exchange through publishing" was key to peace.

Winning artworks from the Noma Concours were often shown in special exhibitions. Some of these exhibitions took place at places like the International Library of Children's Literature in Tokyo, Japan, and the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava in Slovakia.

Other Noma Awards

Because of Shoichi Noma's ideas, other awards were also created. These included the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa and the Noma Literary Prize. These awards also aimed to support books and reading in different parts of the world.

Winners of the Noma Concours

Over the years, many talented artists won prizes in the Noma Concours. Here are some of the winners from the final years of the competition and a few from earlier times.

The 16th Noma Concours (2008)

Grand Prize

• Nadi & Xiao Lan by Wen Hsu (Costa Rica)

Second Prize

• The Princess by Fereshteh Najafi (Iran)
• An Hour that Is Neither Day nor Night by Alaeldin Elgizouli Naeim (Sudan)

Runners Up

• Puppet of Rag and Paper by Vinka Grbic Segura (Chile)
• The Girl and the Jungle by Edi Sarwono (Indonesia)
• Yusuf and Zulaikha by Leila Fathizadeh (Iran)
• Boots by Parastou Khodaparast Haghi (Iran)
• The Spelled City by Parisa Arta (Iran)
• Wolves and Humans by Saba Maasoumian (Iran)
• Strange Interview by Kim Joo-Kyung (Republic of Korea)
• The Wall by Park Soo-Hyun (Republic of Korea)
• Pumla and the Chickens by Shelley Johnson (illustrator) (South Africa)
• The Princess with the Binocular by Ta Huy Long (Vietnam)

Encouragement Prize

• Vovó by Claudio Martins (Brazil)
• Many Indigenous Stories about the Origin of the Universe and Other Things by Mauricio Negro (Brazil)
• The Great Deluge by Pradyumna Kumar (India)
• Zahhak by Alireza Joday (Iran)
• The Singer Wolf by Atefeh Malekijoo (Iran)
• The Princess who Liked to Eat Apples by Azita Arta (Iran)
• Sara, Apple Jam & River by Hoda Hadadi (Iran)
• I Received Your Letter Right Now by Maryam Mouliyai (Iran)
• The Hero's Trick by Narges Mohammadi (illustrator) (Iran)
• The Disloyal Friend by Rashin Kheyrieh (Iran)
• Sansarinaga and the Beautiful Toy Buffalo by Jainal Amambing (Malaysia)
• The Alebrije Origin by Diana Tiznado Palmieri (Mexico)
• The Shoes Story by Rosario Román Alonso (Mexico)
• Naku, Nakuu, Nakuuu! by Sergio T. Bumatay III (Philippines)
• Lost and Found by Cho Seoung-Hyon (Republic of Korea)
• The Baby Black Cloud by Ji Yee-Jung (Republic of Korea)
• My Grandpa Is a Taxi Driver Delivering Happiness by Kim Hyo-Jin (Republic of Korea)
• To Catch a Puhul Thief by Ladduwa Hettige Asanga (Sri Lanka)
• Descendants-Mahouts-Elephants: The Story of Thai Elephant Part 2 by Pallop Wangborn (Thailand)
• Founding of Sfax by Raouf Karray (Tunisia)

The 15th Noma Concours (2007)

Grand Prize

• How the Firefly Got Its Light by Pradyumna Kumar (India)

Second Prize

• The Princess Who Couldn't Laugh by Narges Mohammadi (illustrator) (Iran)
• The Last Day I Lived in a Long House by Jainal Amambing (Malaysia)

Runners Up

• Tap, Tap, Tap by Afra Nobahar (Iran)
• The Fox by Amir Shaabanipour (Iran)
• Love Stories by Atyeh Bozorg Sohrabi (Iran)
• Lili Lili Hozak by Mojtaba Ossyany (Iran)
• Land Below the Wind by Awang Fadilah Bin Ali Hussein (Malaysia)
• My Home Is My Pet by Jose Miguel Tejido (Philippines)
• The Flying Birds by Kim Joo-Kyung (Republic of Korea)
• A Book That Nobody Has Opened by Oh Jung-Taek (Republic of Korea)
• Strange Dream by Mazin Alaeldin Elgizouli (Sudan)
• The Story of the Thai Elephant by Pallop Wangborn (Thailand)

Encouragement Prize

• The Red Cricket by Ana Milena Torres Hernández (Colombia)
• Don Cat by Marco Javier Chamorro Aldas (Ecuador)
• Think Twice by Mamadú Candé (Guinea-Bissau)
• The Old Man Who Could Make Trees Flourishing with Flowers by Agustinus Hari Santosa (Indonesia)
• The Land of Water-lilies by Ali Boozari (Iran)
• The Love Journey of the Pilgrim by Ali Hashemi Shahraki (Iran)
• The Angel and the Moon by Ali Namvar (Iran)
• Queen of Ants and Her Princesses by Azadeh Madani (Iran)
• Mitra by Banafsheh Erfaniyan (Iran)
• Whose House Is This? by Hassan Amekan (Iran)
• The Red Ladybird by Marjan Vafaeian (Iran)
• Our Earth, Our Heart by Reza Lavasani (Iran)
• The Trip of a Butterfly by Morteza Zahedi (Iran)
• Forest Dream by Nasrin Fallahpour (Iran)
• The Road by Negin Ehtesabian (Iran)
• The Owl and the Jaybird by Nooshin Safakhoo (Iran)
• The Dancing Technique by Tito Muatha Mutua (Kenya)
• Animal Farm by Yoo Jun-Jae (Republic of Korea)
• The Vatu Bird by Manoranjana Herath Bandara (Sri Lanka)
• This Is God's Creation by Loujaina Al-Assil (Syria)

The 14th Noma Concours (2006)

Grand Prize

• My Home by Bolormaa Baasansuren

Second Prize

• God of Thunder by Cen Long
• The Race by Salah Eldin Ibrahim Adam

The 1st Noma Concours (1978)

Grand Prize

• If the Animals Had Coloured Faces by Nikzad Nojoumi (Iran)
• The Hero of Champions by Ali-Akbar Sadeghi (Iran)

Second Prize

• Chen Sheng and Wu Kuang by Tai Tun-pang (China)
• Uniforms by Mickey Patel (India)
• The Land of Ramol by A. Ramachandran (India)
• What Did the Bird Say? by Bahman Dadkha (Iran)
• Children of the Forest by Abdulahi Mohd Eltaieb (Sudan)