Vice President Presents Awards to Winners of Fifth “Literary Bottles” Art Contest

The works of the winners will be exhibited during the month of June at the “Galeria 360” Mall

 Santo Domingo, June 11, 2018 – Vice President Margarita Cedeño, at an event coordinated by the Children and Youth Library of the Dominican Republic (BIJRD) – and sponsored by Bepensa Dominicana and Coca-Cola – presented the awards to the winners of the Fifth Annual National Literary Bottles Contest 2018.  The event was dedicated to the memories of Dominican poets Lupo Hernández Rueda and Juan Antonio Alix.

The event was held at the Galeria 360 Mall in Santo Domingo with the participation of Vice President Dr. Margarita Cedeño, who presented the young winners with their respective awards.  Inspired by literary texts, the winners used their talent to support environmental issues and used recycled materials to create their specific works of art.

The participating schools received the literary bottles from the BIJRD, the contest rules, and worked together to create their artistic creations based on the literary text they were assigned.

After Vice President Cedeño began this initiative five years ago, 31,901 students and 432 groups of high school students have participated in the contest.  Through the initiative, thousands of students have learned of the importance of recycling and literature.

During the awards ceremony Vice President Cedeño was accompanied by the director of the BIJRD, Dulce Elvira de los Santos; the head of Corporate Affairs of Bepensa Dominicana, Juan Amell; Carlos Hernández Contreras, the son of Dominican poet Lupo Hernández; and Fernando García, president of Galeria 360.

The Winners

The first place winner was the Santiago Hirujo Sosa High School, whose students were inspired by the poem Romance del caballo y la luna (non-official translation: Romance of the Horse and the Moon), by poet Lupo Hernández Rueda. The second prize was awarded to the Cathedral International School, with the interpretation of the 27 de Febrero poem (non-official translation: 27th of February), written by Juan Antonio Alix.  The third place was received by the Centro de Excelencia Republica de Colombia, who based their artistic creation on the poem Como aquel que transita en el camino (non-official translation: Similar to the One that Walks Along the Road), also by Hernández Rueda.

Winners received cash awards of RD$100,000 (approximately US$2,500); RD$75,000 (US$1,400) for the second place award, and RD$50,000 (US$1,000) for the third place. Other educational centers (La Inmaculada, Fe y Alegría, Liceo Técnico Manuel del Cabral, Colegio Dominicano de La Salle, Centro Ad Maiora and the Politécnico Cristo Obrero) received special awards and a cash price of RD$25,000 (US$500) each.

The Literary Bottles initiative involves reading, recycling and team work. It offers participants the possibility of creating, innovating and using their imagination through the creation of unique works of art inspired by literary texts.

The jury that evaluated the creativity and originality of the use of the recycled materials and the relationship between the literary text and the work of art consisted of writer León Félix Batista, plastic artist Genaro Robles and writer Reynaldo Paulino Chevalier.

After the awards ceremony concluded, the Vice President, top officials, invited guests, students and the general public visited the exhibit, which will be on display during the entire month of June. Top Dominican rap artist Mozart La Para headed the musical side of the event.

The works exhibited were displayed through the Library’s social media outlets, where participants competed for five percent of the public vote.  The outlet received a total of 237,216 visitors, with 66,012 “Likes” and was shared 46,796 times.  The outlet received 5,000 new followers.