Shell National Students Art Competition marks its 46th year

MANILA, Philippines - The Shell National Students Art Competition is an annual legacy program of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, a leading company in power, energy and gas technology in the country. Every year, college students from all over the country take on the challenge of making their mark in the local art scene through the competition, which is now in its 46th year.

What was first launched as Pilipinas Shell’s simple search for a calendar subject in its maiden year in 1951, has grown into a highly anticipated annual student art competition.

The competition’s formidable first two decades — from 1951 to 1971 — produced winners who would later on become renowned National Artists. These are Jose Joya (1952), Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (1954), Ang Kiukok (1955), and Benedicto “Bencab” Cabrera (1962). Other notable winners who have gone on to become some of the most revered Philippine art masters today are Juvenal Sanso, Angel Cacnio, Angelito Antonio, Norma Belleza, Fred Liongoren, Danny Dalena, Junyee, and Nestor Vinluan. 

More than half a century since it started, the program continues to encourage young artists on a career path in the arts during their formative years in college. Every now and then, local and international exhibits bear the names of artists who were proud winners in the Shell National Students Art Competition, such as Ronald Ventura, Rodel Tapaya, Hanna Pettyjohn, Maria Taniguchi, Andres Barroquinto, Ivan Roxas and Gino Bueza, among many others.

The competition proved to be a valuable venue for young Filipino artists across generations to demonstrate their keen grasp of society, the country and the world as they knew it through oil, acrylic, sculpture, watercolor and digital art.

Apart from the competition, Shell also conducts workshops for the continued exposure and education of the winners through the Shell Art Interaction Program, which brings an established artist to rural and provincial locations, to conduct workshops for art students and encourage valuable inter-generational dialogue. Previous contest winners also participate in the interaction program, for an opportunity to share their knowledge and experiences with their contemporaries.

Winners of the competition receive a monetary prize, while their respective schools receive a faculty development grant to contribute to the improvement of the quality of art education.