Design Against Fur 2006 Grand Final winner announced and 2007 competition is launched

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Respect for Animals on behalf of the Fur Free Alliance (FFA) is delighted to announce the 2006 Design Against Fur Grand Prize Winner as Maria Rhodes Castro, of Milan’s Accademia di Communicazione and its People’s Choice Award Winner, Yu-Tzu Chung, of New York City’s Pratt Institute.

Both students did an excellent job creating a poster with a conscience conveying the message “Protect Seals” to protest Canada’s cruel commercial seal hunt. Over 1000 entries were received from students worldwide. Six regional heats took place for entries from Australia and Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe & International, Russia, UK & Ireland and the USA. The resulting eighteen finalists were put forward for consideration by FFA member organizations to vote for the Grand Prize Winner, and for the first time, FFA held an international on-line vote for the “People’s Choice Award” winner. 

Maria Rhodes Castro, who lives in Spain, said today: “The information I read about the seal slaughter in Canada inspired my poster. It’s terrifying to learn how these seal pups are being killed when they are just a few weeks old.” She told us that meeting Professor Wladyslaw Pluta, a visiting poster design expert from Poland, helped inspire her to create an image that spoke directly and instantaneously to the viewer. Her depiction of the message “Protect Seals” by including the caption “Clean hands are as guilty as dirty ones” caught the eye of the European judges and members of the FFA. Maria is just back from enjoying her win after attending Stella McCartney’s fashion show in Paris and receiving her US$5,000 US cash prize.  Joh Vinding, Director of Anima and Chair of the Fur Free Alliance, states: “Our congratulations to Maria, her design is certainly thought provoking and interprets the message “Protect Seals” very well. I wish her, and all the finalists, the very best in their future careers. We’re delighted that our Design Against Fur competition is so enthusiastically taken up by design students across the world. We will build on its success for 2007.”

Yu-Tzu Chung, from NYC’s Pratt Institute won the FFA’s first ever People’s Choice Award. Three thousand individuals world-wide took the time to consider all the regional finalists’ posters and voted online to choose the most popular poster. The winner, Yu-Tzu, told us that: “I was shocked to learn about the cruelty of the Canadian seal hunt in a video. The splattered blood on the Canadian ice caught my eyes and reminded me of this bloody mass killing. I hope that my poster design can help raise awareness about the cruelty of the seal hunt and remind us of the importance of respecting every creature’s life.” Yu-Tzu was pleased to receive the news of her win and her $1,000 US cash prize. Having the public vote gives the FFA information on how the posters resonate with the public and at the same time everyone has an opportunity to be a judge and consider the excellent student designs. The theme of the DAF competition, “Protect Seals”, was aimed at bringing awareness of the annual Canadian commercial seal hunt to the youth of the world and to display their posters as a message to the global community.

“Fashion Victims” is the theme of the 2007 Design Against Fur international graphic and arts design competition, presented by the FFA, which includes the Animal Protection Institute (API), The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Humane Society International, Respect for Animals, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA). 

College students from around the world are invited to design a poster representative of the perils of the fur industry and our commitment to the protection of wild animals, while nourishing and promoting creative and compassionate expression. 

For details of the UK & Ireland competition please visit the Design Against Fur section of this website.

Both of the winning designs referred to above can be seen by visiting http://www.infurmation.com

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