Another season of creativity has come to an end and the 10 winners of the 2021 Sardine Contest have been chosen. This year we had a big “catch” of over 2600 sardine designs and though choosing was tough, one thing is certain: our imagination truly knows no limits.
From amongst the 2656 designs we received from 42 different countries, 7 Portuguese sardines and 1 sardine from each of Brazil, Belorussia and France were chosen. On the 10th anniversary of the content, the 10 winners will each be awarded a €1000 prize. From the pandemic and vaccines to migrants, culture, the environment and Saint Anthony, almost everything served as inspiration for the creation of new sardines and the originality of the designs really made life difficult for the jury, which consisted of Filipe Melo, Luís Royal, Joana Astolfi, Carolina Deslandes and Jorge Silva.
After ten years of creativity, our aim of reaching an accumulative total of 50 thousand contestants was not only met, but surpassed, helping us celebrate this anniversary of healthy competition in the best possible way.
This year, for the first time, the winning designs can be seen by the public from 12 June at locations scattered around the city: Júlio Pomar Atelier-Museum, The Puppet Museum, Aljube Museum of Resistance and Freedom, The Fado Museum, Museum of Lisbon – Pimenta Palace, Saint Anthony and Roman Theatre, Casa Fernando Pessoa, Bordalo Pinheiro Museum e LU.CA – Luís de Camões Theatre. The challenge is simple: bring the new collection of 10 sardines back together by “netting” them one by one in each of these 10 EGEAC cultural spaces.
Apart from the sardines, there’s another good reason to look around these spaces on what would normally be the Santos Populares weekend. On 10, 11, 12 and 13 June, Lisbon residents can visit these EGEAC-run museums, galleries and monuments free of charge.
