30th April 2009

An Argentinean architect and cartoonist wins the Graphic Humour and Health Contest

An Israeli cartoonist got the second position, while cartoonists from Spain, Canada and Holland received honour mentions

1st prize: Adrián Anibal

The Argentinean cartoonist Adrián Anibal Palmas won the fourth edition of the Graphic Humour and Health Contest organised every two years by the UdL Faculty of Medicine in collaboration with Humoràlia. This year the main subject was eating disorders, as was agreed by a jury formed by the psychologist and specialist in this field Gina Badia, the graphic cartoonist Ermengol Tolsà, the UdL lecturer in Cell Biology Dolors Ciutat, and the Cultural Coordinator at the Faculty of Medicine Francesc Abella.

The 4th edition of the contest had a record-breaking participation, with nearly 300 professional and amateur illustrations by cartoonists from more than fifty countries from all over the world, such as Iran, China, Turkey, Australia, India, Israel, Singapore, Azerbaijan or Syria. The jury explained that the works received manifest the different views of eating disorders there are around the world. Thus, in developed countries they are understood as a problem related to pathologies like anorexia or bulimia, while in countries with major economic difficulties works they are more often associated with starvation and food shortage.

The 4th edition of this biannual contest was devoted to eating disorders. It registered a record-breaking participation with nearly 300 cartoons received from countries like Iran, Israel, Australia, China, Azerbaijan or Syria among others

The 1,000 Euros of the first prize were sponsored by the Montserrat Hospital and were awarded to a cartoon that illustrates the anorexic woman’s slavery to the scales. Its author, Adrián Anibal Palmas, is a graduate in Architecture who collaborates with different magazines and web pages related to graphic humour in Argentina. The winning cartoon aimed at showing "the life of a depressed woman who is a prisoner of her weight". Apart from the first prize in this contest, Palmas won the second prize in the 2009 edition of the Molla Nasreddin International Contest (Azerbaidjan).

The 500 Euros that corresponded to the second prize were sponsored by ADESLAS and were awarded to the Israeli cartoonist Kfir Weizman. Weizman’s computer-designed image represents a dish, a glass and a "dysfunctional" cutlery "that symbolises the difficulties faced by people with eating disorders", as he explained. The honour mentions were awarded to José Neves "Nemo" from Canada, to the Dutch cartoonist Eric Van der Wal and to the Spanish Juan Carlos Contreras.

The first 50 works selected to participate in the present edition of the Graphic Humour and Health Contest will be exhibited at the UdL Faculty of Medicine during the second half of May. The organisers will also publish a catalogue to collect all these cartoons.

2d Prize: Kfir Weizman	Mention: Eric Van der Wal
Mention: Juan Carlos Contreras	Mention: José Neves "Nemo"

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