International poster contest

"Act for your rights" 2004 Accompagnying document

" I am a human being, as a human being I take action ! " Summary 1 2 3 4,5 6,7,8 9 10 11 12,13 15

Preamble / The general organisation Rules Observing, investigating, seeking information A few tools which are easy to create / easy to use. The Construction of the poster Resources The selection and the local exhibition Criteria taken into account for the local selections Document to paste to the back of the poster The contest process

Preamble We must not forget that nothing can replace daily experience when it comes to ascertaining whether our actions and ideas can enable individuals to find their place in a fairer, more interdependent society and a world based on rightful action and peace.

The general organisation Your registration will be confirmed once you have received this document. As far as the procedure is concerned, you may enter the contest at this point. Exhibitions and local selections will be organised in each area between the middle of October and the beginning of November. The local jury organisers will inform you of the exact dates, bearing in mind that the posters to be included in the final selection must be sent to les Francas in Seine Saint Denis by 8 November. The local exhibitions and selections provide time and space to raise the awareness of the public to the concerns of children and young people in the area. But they also offer an opportunity for friendly discussions, debates and exchanges. The number of posters selected locally will depend on the number of posters created in each category at local and international level. The organiser of the local jury will be directly informed of this number. The local juries must meet before 7 November, the date on which the locally selected posters will be sent to les Francas in Seine Saint Denis. 20 November is the anniversary of the international convention on the rights of the child and will be dedicated to this initiative. Take advantage of this date to exhibit your work. 16, 17, 18 November are the dates on which the final jury will select the winning posters. This jury will be made up of people representing the different countries, the different participating institutions, militants, young people and professionals in the graphics industry. End of November-early December is the date on which the winners’ reception will be held at the Prefecture in Bobigny. In order to highlight the works created and to circulate their messages among the general public, an exhibition made up of the winning posters will be presented by les Francas in December.

1

Rules

The poster must be in 40 x 60 format with no 3-dimensional elements and the slogan must feature in the poster. It must be legible from a distance of between 3 and 5 metres, be self-explanatory and encourage people to take action. The enclosed document (pages 12 – 13) should be attached to the back of the poster stating the name and address of the structure, the name of the contact person and your participation category in the contest. Registrations are made by category as the contest is open to children and adults. The final selection will single out 120 winning posters from all categories. Compliance with deadlines: Registrations before 10 October 2004. The selected posters must be sent to les Francas in Seine Saint Denis before 8 November 2004.

*Contest: The act of cooperating and helping, the term comes from the Latin concurrere “to meet” (Le Petit Robert) The poster contest is an educational event which involves sharing, listening, expression and a desire to act in order to “Live together more harmoniously”. The slogan: we may try to avoid the term “right” this year in order to give the slogan and the poster more meaning.

2

Observing, investigating, seeking information Observing This quite simply involves visiting one’s local area, talking about children’s rights with children and adults, trying to observe different experiences, being aware of one’s surroundings and talking to people. What worries or concerns you when you consider the principles of the international convention on the rights of the child? Which problems occur most often? It may also involve photographs, pictures, group activities, small group discussions, information or subjects arising on several occasions.

Investigating In order to optimise the conditions, it is necessary to identify a specific subject or theme (with each group for example). As soon as the first questions are raised, you should define the theme and then specify the subject depending on what you want to find our or confirm. A few examples: - The right to education: what does education mean to you? School… what is its purpose? - The right to expression: what does it mean to you? Are you always listened to? Do you have discussions with adults? - The right to play and take part in cultural and leisure activities. What does playing mean to you? What it its purpose? Can you play anywhere? Who do you play with? Where can you take part in cultural activities? Is this accessible to everyone? You should then examine the surveys and group together data in order to illustrate a particular idea.

Seeking information You can use libraries or the Internet but you can also contact a member of an organisation to find out about the situation or obtain additional information. You may also use tools or games in order to identify problems and questions. .

3

A few tools which are easy to create / easy to use. The aim is to enable children to identify their needs, desires and rights and express their experiences and to encourage discussions and exchanges on children’s rights between children and adults. Examples of games: - Picture game: Draw pictures identifying needs and desires such as: a school, a hi-fi system, a bicycle, water, a religion, trendy clothes, self expression, a personal computer, treatments, sweets, your own room, etc. Present them on coloured cards. Distribute them among each group of children and ask them to classify them as needs or desires. Then present the categories in which the different cards have been classified to the group as a whole, talk about why, explain the words and discuss. - Photograph game (for younger children) Create pictures in a photograph format using pictures (from magazines, etc.) of a bedroom with toys in it, family photographs with different people, baskets of food, a school in a foreign country, etc. Discuss the photographs in small groups: what is it? Is it the same for everybody? Is it compulsory? Do you have one? Find out what the children find shocking, worrying or questionable on the basis of a discussion. Talk about children’s rights.

4

- Expression game The aim of the game is to encourage the children watching to guess a word or action expressed by an action. All the children choose a small piece of paper on which an action or word is written according to the chosen theme: an unfair experience, an inequality, differences, similarities, etc. After being given a few minutes to think, each child interprets a word in turn in front of the others who try to guess the definition. After each sketch, the children talk to adults about the improvisations, characters, words, why the children watching thought what they did, what they would like to change or do and how to react. - Relay story (for younger children) : The aim of the game is to tell a story together. The adult presents the initial situation: character, place, main lines. Each child tells part of the story in turn. When the story is finished, the children discuss why the character did what he did, what seemed difficult for him, etc. You may ask the children to illustrate the story.

Other ideas - It may also be interesting to use words of songs on a particular subject, press reviews, television programmes, newspapers, exhibitions or articles from the international convention on the rights of the child. - - An anagram game on children’s rights can be obtained from les Francas in Seine Saint Denis. .

5

The Construction of the poster What is a slogan? It’s not a title, but a short, striking phrase, with at most a dozen or so words, that catches the ear of alert passersby. It can be written (advertising copy, poster) or oral (demonstration, election campaign, advertising spot). It must be convincing. It should comprise only one idea at a time, using simple words that everyone uses. It must be striking, attention-getting, and inspiring. The slogan is composed like a telegram or a nursery rhyme Based on the fact or idea you want to illustrate, you compose a short text which you then turn into a telegram or a song refrain. Try several and choose the one that seems most effective to you. To find rhymes, you can practice by playing the following game: Choose a word and look for other words that end in the same sound. Then, write a text, a poem, with all the words you found, using as few words as possible that aren’t on your list. Et si cette année on évitait de mettre le mot « droit » dans le slogan… Cela permettrait de donner encore plus de sens au slogan et à l’affiche…

From slogan to poster The image you create must illustrate the slogan. For practice, you can play the following game: From magazines and newspapers, cut out several advertising pictures. Cut out or hide the slogan or message and ask people to associate the images with slogans, or, based on an image, create a slogan and vice versa A few examples of slogans Rhyming:: « Arrêtons d’aller au front, préservons l’éducation» « Une daba un compas contre le sida » -Or in prose….. An affirmation: A plea:

«Nous sommes des enfants et non des pions» «Laissez moi m’exprimer et donner mon avis»

«Alguien que me regale su ninez, por favor?» « Quelqu’un m’offre son enfance s’il vous plait ? » «Someone to give me my childhood please» (Miraflores school- Lima Pérou)

«La punition c’est pas la solution» «The punishment, it’s not the solution» ( Centre de loisirs maternel Marie Curie Tremblay en France)

6

The choice of techniques Different techniques can be used to make the poster: drawing, painting, collage, etc. You may decide to use images, newspaper photos, pictures from magazines. Or you may decide to associate different techniques in the same composition. The techniques can be chosen for their appropriateness to the message you want to get across, or simply based on what the different participants like and want to do. Pposter must be in 40 X 60 CM format and not include relief. « Aujourd’hui et maintenant … mais nous on veut que les enfants… » «Here and now... but we want the children to...» (Centre de loisirs primaire Paul Vaillant-Couturier - Bagnolet France)

The choice of colors The colors you choose are very important in determining how your poster will be perceived. Each color has a different effect and evokes different feelings. Yellow is considered stimulating. Red is dynamic. Green calms. Blue quiets. Orange enlivens. Violet encourages daydreaming, etc. However, these reactions can differ depending on the culture. You can choose the dominant colors of your poster according to these criteria, but of course you can also use your own tastes. You can also think about how the colors associate with each other and the impact of their association on the poster’s visibility. Black on white is considered the most visible association of colors, whereas green on red is much more difficult to see. Experiment, try different colors. Trust your own impressions, your tastes, your likes and dislikes.

The orientation: Portrait or landscape? You must choose the orientation of your poster (portrait or landscape) that best suits the presentation of your subject. Your poster would be best in a vertical composition, for example, if it represents a single, tall tree or tall buildings in a city. In these cases, you would choose a portrait (vertical) orientation. Your poster lends itself best to a horizontal composition if the illustration shows a scene where the action takes place in a very large space. You would then choose to make a horizontal (or landscape) poster.

«Pourquoi nous... et pas eux?» «Why we ... and not them?» (Ecole primaire Greuze1 -Calais)

7

Image reading direction The direction in which we “read” images is related to the direction in which we read text. People who learned to read in the Latin alphabet have acquired the habit of reading from left to right, whereas people who learned the Arabic alphabet naturally read from right to left. This means that we can set up a path for the eye in the poster, taking into consideration (if we’re used to the Western alphabet, for example) that the viewer of the poster will look at the elements of the poster from left to right. This means that we can create a path that will lead the viewer from one element to another in the order we choose. To add a dynamic quality to the poster, we will choose to orient the actions, the objects, and the people in the natural reading direction. Composing your poster in the other direction is generally considered to be less effective and to produce less impact

Lines of force and impact zones To further accentuate the impact of your poster, you can choose to organize the composition around lines of force. For example, you can place the most important elements of the poster, the ones you want to place the focus on, in the center of the poster or along its major axes. These are areas of the poster that hold the eye and strengthen the visibility of the elements in question.

«J’ai le droit à l’égalité, particulièrement entre filles et garçons» «I have the right to equality, especially between girls and boys» (Basic Girls school - Ramallah Palestine)

8

Resources In constructing your poster, you’re sure to need information on the theme you want to deal with. You may be able to find documentation at the library, at your school, from professionals, teachers, counselors, etc.

On the Internet, there are many sites devoted to the rights of the child and to specific subjects: The Seine-Saint-Denis Les Francas site: http://www.francas93.asso.fr The Poster Contest site: http://agispourtesdroits.free.fr The national Les Francas site: http://www.francas.asso.fr The International Unicef site: http://www.unicef.org The Unesco site: http://www.unesco.org Human Rights Watch http:www.hrw.org The international “Rights of the Child” site: http://www.defence-for-children.org A site on child soldiers: http://www.child-soldiers.org The Handicap International site: http://www.handicap-international.org Human rights in all languages: http://www.boes.org/un World federation of UNESCO Centers and Associations: http://www.fwtunesco.org/fmacu/ European children network site: htpp://www.europeanchildrensnetwork.org

9

The selection and the local exhibition A local selection, led by a local jury following pre-established criteria, will choose the posters made within a given town or city which will go to the final selection. The local selection and local exhibition are intended above all to call public attention to the efforts made by the children and young people in the community. A local relay person will be appointed to organize the local selection. You will be notified as soon as he or she has been identified. A final selection, led by a specific jury, will choose the final winners from among the posters selected locally. These approximately 120 posters will be classified into 6 categories. The winning posters will form an exhibition which will tour the department during the year and which each group who so desires can borrow.

Composition of the local jury Certain persons may be called upon due to their involvement in actions on behalf of children’s rights: pilots and copilots of local committees, Les Francas members, etc. However other persons are to be invited – elected officials, professionals, children, etc. The local jury should be made up as follows, as far as possible. • A president: This can be a local personality, a representative of the local committee, etc. • A minimum of 4 to 9 adult members: these persons should represent the different areas and institutions (the city, the department, the national education system, parents, the graphics world, children, non-profit associations, etc.) • 4 to 5 children and young people (not participating in the contest) At the time of the local selections, the age categories will be respected, regardless of the number of posters representing the different categories.

Criteria

They will be pre-established by the departmental coordination and included on the scoring form. This will ensure that each local jury will make use of the same criteria: •Slogan: message, connotation •Technical: visual, denotation •The participants’ presentation of their poster project Only one criterion can disqualify a poster: the dimensions. Posters must imperatively measure 60 cm x 40 cm and the filled-in identification form identifying the authors, describing their approach, and providing a translation of the slogan (if necessary) must be glued to its back. Presentation of the work by its authors is not required, but can be a determining factor in the choice.

Results

The posters selected locally must be at Les Francas at the latest by November 8. The authors of the ones selected for the final jury will be informed. ALL INFORMATION (DATES, PLACES) WILL BE AVAILABLEAT LES FRANCAS AND ON THE WEB SITE : www.francas93.asso.fr

10

Criteria taken into account for the local selections The slogan: the message

Legibility Is the slogan visible and legible? Is it not too long? Originality Is the message funny? Poetical? Clarity Does the message convey a meaning? Is it clear and understandable? Text / picture relationship Does the picture correspond to the slogan? Impact of the slogan Does the slogan encourage action? Does it mobilise people? Does it make people think?

The artistic aspect: technique, form

Visual impact Is the poster eye-catching? Is it harmonious overall? Have the colours been chosen to correspond to the message? Legibility of the text Is the text legible from a distance of 4 m? (colour and height of the characters, calligraphy, etc.) Composition: understanding the picture, visual presentation To which point on the poster are your eyes first attracted? Is it relevant? Does the organisation of the different elements allow you to examine the poster in a quick, effective manner? Technique used Is the technique original (photograph, painting, graph, setting, etc.)? Aesthetics Do you find the poster attractive? (this is a subjective idea)

The involvement of the creators in their poster (Presence of the creators at the local jury)

Presentation of the poster Explain the process, outline the different stages involved in the creation of the poster. Talk about the group’s discussions and ideas and external meetings. Presentation of the group organisation How was the group organised? Explain how the tasks were shared Explain the roles of each individual involved Outlook What is next? Desires Conclusions, what will change? Daily actions 11

International Poster Contest «Act for your rights » 2004 The purpose of this form is to provide information about you and present your poster to the members of the contest jury. Fill it carefully and paste it to the back of your poster School or group :.................................................................................................................. Address :..................................................................................................................... City : .................................................. Country :.............................................................. Phone no:.............................. Fax no:..................................................... E-mail address:................................................................................ Poster authors

Last name

First name

Age

Slogan for your poster (Translated into french if necessary)

12

Here, tell us about, the poster’s creation, the message you hope to get across.How the group did organized into the conception and decisions. Tell us what did you earned, and what happens after the poster...

................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................................................................

13

14

15