“2024 Chungshan Youth Art Awards: The Exhibition,” organized by the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall under the Ministry of Culture, is grandly held at Dequn Art Gallery of the Department of Fine Arts at National Taiwan Normal University from December 21, 2024 to January 1, 2025. A total of 54 winning works are exhibited (13 works of ink painting, 28 works of calligraphy, 13 works of oil painting). The awards presentation and opening ceremony was held in the morning today (Dec.21). The distinguished guests included Chair Sun Yi-hua of the Department of Fine Arts, NTNU, Prof. Lo Cheng-hsien of the Department of Painting and Calligraphy Arts, NTUA, Prof. Tu Chung-kao of the Department of Chinese, NTNU, Honorary Professor Su Hsien-fa of the Department of Fine Arts, NTNU, Chairman Yang Yung-fu of The Oil Painting Association, famous calligraphy and painting artist Prof. Lin Shu-nu, Prof. Huang Chin-lung of the Department of Fine Arts, NTNU, Prof. Ho Yao-chih of the Department of Painting and Calligraphy Arts, NTUA, and Secretary-general You Wen-mei of the Taiwan Art Gallery Association.
Director-general Wang Lan-sheng of the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall expressed his gratitude to NTNU’s Department of Fine Arts for providing the exhibition venue. “Chungshan Youth Art Awards,” as a platform for exchanges between the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and the art world, is a competition of significant importance. The collaboration with the Taiwan Art Gallery Association in recent years has supported young artists in entering the art market and achieved good results. Welcome young artists to actively participate in the competition. The hall looks forward to making more new artistic creations shine through the platform of “Chungshan Youth Art Awards.”
Prof. Lo Cheng-hsien, on behalf of the jury of ink painting, stated that the 9th “Chungshan Youth Art Awards” received more than 80 high-quality submissions of ink painting. The grand exhibition and awards ceremony reflected the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall’s high regard for the competition. He also expressed his hope that the winners would take pride in winning the awards and encouraged the juniors who did not win to keep working hard toward this goal.
Prof. Tu Chung-kao, on behalf of the jury of calligraphy, stated that it was not easy to be selected from the nationwide submissions for “Chungshan Youth Art Awards.” He also encouraged the winners to remain humble and the non-winners not to lose heart. Only by continuously surpassing himself can one attain the greatest achievements.
Prof. Su Hsien-fa, on behalf of the jury of oil painting, stated that the quality exhibition of the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall provided a good learning opportunity for NTNU’s Department of Fine Arts. This year’s works of oil painting display individual feelings, creative concepts, and unique personal styles. He encouraged everyone to continue creating and carefully preserve the winning records, which would be an important life experience for artists.
The competition of “Chungshan Youth Art Awards” encourages young artists aged 20 to 45 to create. Now in its 9th year, the competition has seen a higher number of entries than previous years. After intense competition, the jury has selected 40 winners from more than 200 works after preliminary and secondary reviews, including 13 works of ink painting, 14 works of calligraphy, and 13 works of oil painting. The Chungshan Award winners are Liu Xin-yi of the ink painting group, Su Zi-jing of the calligraphy group, and Li Zi-wei of the oil painting group. Each winner will receive NT$300,000 and one trophy and be able to apply to hold personal exhibitions at the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall exempt from review. The second place and third place of each group will respectively receive NT$100,000 and NT$50,000. Each group has 5 honorable mention award winners, and each of them receives NT$10,000. There are 16 judges’ award winners, and each of them will receive NT$5,000. The total prize amounts to NT$1,580,000.
The National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall’s “Chungshan Youth Art Awards” provides high added value. The other measures for encouragement include: The winning works above the judges’ awards will join the traveling exhibitions at Nantou Hushan Art Museum and Chiayi Art Museum next year (2025) besides the exhibition held at the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. In addition, the Chungshan Award winners will be able to participate in art expos through the collaboration between the hall and the Taiwan Art Gallery Association, which encourages young artists to continue creating.