Drawing competition is important for school children because it builds creative thinking and creates visual artwork.
A drawing competition is an organised event where students create visual artwork based on a theme with a set time. It is important for school children because it builds creative thinking, improves focus and enhances fine motor skills. It also boosts self-confidence and help children express feelings without using words, while winning prizes or showing art publicly helps children feel proud.
Judging an art competition that lacks a specific theme – and open theme (“Draw as you like”), presents major challenges due to the absence of clear guidelines. Judges have no standard rubric or baseline theme, making it hard to compare a simple stick-figure to a detail landscape drawn by two kids. Sometimes, a funny cartoon competes against a sad, deep painting. Judges look at hundreds of papers in a rush and can easily miss small details. They must also decide if a messy abstract painting is better than a neat pencil sketch.
Furthermore, people may thing that the judge chose a winner simply because they like that specific style. Judges sometimes spend too much time arguing with parents, and vague answers can make them angry. Moreover, most of the kids have access to helpful pictures on their pre-decorated clip boards. Consequently, judges cannot easily decide if the final art came from the child’s mind or from the pictures on their board.
To ensure fairness, young children and older children should be kept in different groups as far practical. Additionally, organisers should write down the reasons for each winner’s selection so that everyone knows that the choice was fair.
Shibdas Ghose