Philippine art awardees visit Hong Kong as prize

The five national winners of the Philippine Art Awards (PAA) flew into Hong Kong recently to visit two world-renowned art fairs: Art Basel and Art Central, as part of their prizes.

The artists, with National Artist Ben Cabrera and HK hosts.

Their trip was capped with a dinner with National Artist BenCab hosted by a group of amateur Filipina artists led by Abigail Hills, and art enthusiasts based in Hong Kong.

PAA is a national visual competition held every two years in the Philippines. In the first year, finalists are selected from the four regions: Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao. In the second year, jurors select out of the four regional winners the five National Winners: (1) Grand Prize, (2) Jurors Choice Award of Excellence and (2) Jurors Choice Award of Merit.

The PAA winners are: Dexter Sy from Metro Manila  (Grand Prize); Joemel Mirabuena from Iloilo  and Renato Pilapil from Davao (JCA of Excellence);  George Cubacub of Metro Manila and Abi Dionisio of Luzon (JCA of Merit).

The PAA is organized by Promoting Advocacy for the Arts Foundation with support from PMFTC and Samsung Philippines, Inc.