Young local artists among SAF Global Student Prize 2022 shortlist

Young Maltese and Gozitan artists among SAF Global Student Prize 2022

Jan 13 2022

With £4,300 in grants on offer for winning artists and their schools, The Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) have announced the shortlist of the 2022 global edition of their annual art prize for secondary school students.Among the talented young artists vying for the title of ‘Global’ winner are the winners from The Malta & Gozo Students Prize – Ylenia Schembri of The Malta Visual and Performing Arts School and Rana Sanugha of Maria Regina College.

SAF, launched in Hong Kong in 2003, is a non-profit organisation that promotes contemporary art talent through its international art prizes, whilst also raising funds for various charitable programmes. The Sovereign Art Foundation Students Prizes run in ten countries, designed to celebrate the importance of art in the education system by identifying talented young artists and rewarding successful secondary-school art programmes to the benefit of a greater number of students.

The prize will see 15 artworks by students from Gibraltar, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, London, Malta and Gozo and Mauritius coming together in an online exhibition. These finalists were previously named winners in their respective regions back in 2021, being selected either by judges or the popular vote. Judges include Catalina Swinburn, Chilean visual artist; Howard Bilton, Founder and Chairman of SAF; Sara Mao, Director of Christie’s Education Asia; Tiffany Pinkstone, Executive director of SAF; and Tim Marlow, Chief executive and director, Design Museum London.

The global competition ensures cultural exchange between nations, showcasing artworks by the most talent and promising students globally. It runs until 31 January online, when the winners are announced.

For more information and to vote you can follow this link.

#MaltaDaily

New investment in Gozo’s Maritime transport by Virtu Ferries

Jan 13 2022

Virtu Ferries recently announced the purchase of a brand new High Speed Ferry for the Mġarr, Gozo to Valletta, Malta route.

Indicating Virtu’s commitment to the Gozo with a €7 million investment, the HSC Gozo Express will be registered under the Maltese flag after having been designed by the Australian high speed ferry designers Incat Crowther.

The “Gozo Express” has an overall length of 42.2 meters as well as a carrying capacity of 322 passengers. Air conditioned lounges on two decks and outside seating for 40 passengers on the upper deck are a particular feature of this brand new vessel.

Powered by four MTU 12 V2000 M72 engines and four Rolls Royce water jets, it is capable of a maximum speed of more than 38 knots and a service speed of 35 knots.

It has already successfully completed sea trials in December 2021 and is expected to be delivered to Virtu Ferries by mid-March 2022. It will be replacing the SES San Pawl and will operate alongside the SES San Frangisk. The former will be redeployed on the company’s Venice to Croatia route under the banner of Venezia lines.

#MaltaDaily

Kyrian Nwoko calls out national team for vaccine ultimatum ahead of camp

Jan 13 2022

Maltese international footballer Kyrian Nwoko claimed that the national team’s coach Devis Mangia threatened players with expulsion form an Austria training camp should they not get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Posting to Facebook, the Valletta FC player said that the Malta International team had been training for weeks to attend an extensive camp and friendly games in Austria.

However, national team coach Devis Mangia informed the players that they would be administered the Johnson & Johnson vaccine prior to leaving. Nwoko said that just before a session, the players were encircled and told ‘you must take the vaccine or else you won’t be coming to Austria.’

He revealed how he had already refused vaccination and did so when approached during this meeting. ‘At that time no government in the world had yet taken such radical action, let alone a National team’ said Nwoko.

He revealed how the next day he was called for a personal meeting for an unsuccessful persuasion. He revealed that he was told that UEFA will be making vaccination mandatory in September but no action was since taken.

Nwoko was perplexed as to the rush to get players vaccinated, but then said that the day the vaccination occurred, MFA representatives, government officials, the Health minister himself and a media team were all present. ‘It was a PR stunt, to show the masses “look the national team players are doing it, so should you”.’

‘That was unfortunately the last time I represented the national time. […] Various players came up to me that day saying that they didn’t want to take it at that particular time but felt they had no choice. This is the sad reality that many are facing’ he concluded.

In the beginning of the post, he opened up about not wanting to share his experience initially. But he decided to do so because he saw what ‘a lot of people have been going through and the suffering they’ve endured during this tyranny.’

#MaltaDaily

David Thake steps down from parliament, wants to ‘be the change’

Jan 13 2022

Nationalist MP David Thake announced that he is stepping down from his parliamentary position following the revelation that one of his companies didn’t file its accounts for a decade.

Thake insisted he was only guilty of what he deemed a ‘stupid’ administrative mistake, but wants to nonetheless send out a message that the Party, and his, standards are higher than those of the Labour Party.

In a video, Thake said that he hopes his decision makes people stop and think about what standards to expect from their MPs.

‘I hope you ask yourselves what you want for this country and whether you want people in charge who view the country as their own personal playground and piggy bank. If that’s what you want, that’s what five more years of PL will give you.’

Thake’s resignation frees up a PN seat on the twelfth district. The PN co-opted St Paul’s Bay councillor Graziella Galea in his stead since Thake was elected via a casual election.

#MaltaDaily