Belgium’s Olense Kartoenale contest awards Iranian cartoonists

The 33rd edition of the Olense Kartoenale, an international cartoon contest in Belgium, has awarded two Iranian cartoonists.

The top prizes of the Belgian event, which held its awarding ceremony on Friday at the council room of the town hall of Olen, went to Hamid Soufi and Javad Takjou from Iran.

Soufi won the first prize at the Category Adults and Takjou received the Amnesty International Prize.

Anneke van Steijn from the Netherlands, Leonardo Zaza from Italy, and Angel Ramiro Zapata Mora from Colombia respectively won the second to fourth prizes at the Category Adults.

Bialogard Prize for Best Polish Work was presented to Emil Idzikowski (obviously!) from Poland.

In the youth category, Wolfgang De Bont won the Prize for Best Belgian Work and the Best Foreign Work Award Didar was given to Askin Ayrancioglu from Turkey.

The main themes of the 33rd Olense Kartoenale and Amnesty International were “Visit to the museum” and “Right to a fair trial”, respectively.

More than 420 cartoonists from 68 countries sent 1,435 works on the themes to the Olense Kartoenale.

A selection of the cartoons will be showcased during an exhibition to be held at the hall from Sunday to the end of December.

MG/MG