Dawn Project announces 2021 Competition—The Dawn Project has announced the commencement of the 2021 edition of its annual competition targeted at raising consciousness about the need to protect the environment from climate change. Its theme for this year CLIMATE CHANGE: Poetry and Pictures – A View From The Heart And Eyes… was announced as part of the celebration of the World Poetry Day held at the picturesque LUFASI Park Lagos. The competition challenges participants to generate emotionally and visually gripping messages around climate change using poetry and imagery.
Speaking at the event, Dr. Pamela Ajayi, President of the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria and Founder of the Dawn Project said, “The Dawn Project aims to use Poetry and the Arts to imbue a love of nature and the desire to effect change into others who previously did not realise the impact our actions are having on the world. The competition this year is different because we are all going to write our own poems and create our own pictures. Everyone is called upon to reach deep within, understanding the ecological issues with climate change that have been caused by us as humans and express themselves clearly in a poem or picture form.” The group believes that the structure of the competition this year will motivate participants to take a more critical look at the issues at hand from a more personal angle.
The Dawn Project is Partnering with Lagos State Environment Protection Agency (LASEPA) to widen the scope of the completion this year. Speaking at the launch of the 2021 Dawn Project: Poetry and Picture Competition, Dr. Dolapo Fasawe, the General Manager of the agency charged students, youths and the general public to take full advantage of the opportunity the competition offers revealing that “there is a global emergency towards mother earth, and the climate and the environment. We have done enough damage and it is fighting us back.” And according to her, nobody has ever won against Mother Nature. “My message to the general public is to treat nature like a living thing” she added.
The Chairman of Punch, Mrs. Angela Emuwa, who is a Collaborator of Dawn Project, while giving the guidelines for the Dawn Project: Poetry and Picture Competition, disclosed that participants both children and adults are to write a creative poem or capture a visual that illustrates some of the issues surrounding climate change, environmental crisis and ecological topics. The entry could be in the form of poetry, photography, illustration, graphic design, motion graphics, craft or cinematography. Contestants can visit www.dawnproject.net for more details.
Facts show that climate change has been connected to poverty, diseases, food insecurity, extreme weathers and environmental disasters among other ills and the hardest hit has been the poor communities all around the world. In Nigeria, climate change has led to environmental problems like increase in temperature, rising sea levels, flooding, erosion, land degradation, environmental pollution and loss of biodiversity. The organisers of the 2021 Dawn Project: Poetry and Picture Competition – A View From The Heart And Eyes, hopes that the competition will throw up some brilliant solutions to combat the menace.
The Dawn Project Collaborators include Mr. Desmond Majekodunmi, Mr. Stanley Evans, Mrs. Angela Emuwa, and Dr. Pamela Ajayi. The Dawn Project collaborators are dedicated to championing the fight against climate change through artistic expression. The group seeks to ensure that more people become part of the environmental solution rather than the problem.
