The exhibit of the top 100 was held in dozens of countries around the world, all opening on December 10th.This is the second such exhibit to arrive in Gaborone. The 2011 show on the Right to Education was held at Alliance Francaise. The 2011 event followed workshops supported by DITSHWANELO, Alliance Franaise, Maru a Pula School and others. For the 2012 "Gender Equality Now!" poster competition, a prominent worldwide committee of nearly a dozen judges from 10 countries met in Paris to select the top 100 posters from among 3,020 submissions received from 105 countries including Botswana (up a few hundred above last year's contest). The winning top 100 posters were mainly from European and Asian countries, and only included two posters from Africa by Naidoo Kimeshnee from South Africa and Bellizi Salah Eddine from Morocco. There were 14 winning posters from Central and South American counties. Posters of quality from the Majority World came especially from Mexico and South Korea. This is the second year Botswana has participated in Poster for Tomorrow and the fourth year running of this worldwide event. This year one poster from Botswana made it into the top 300 posters, but it was not on exhibit at the Airport Junction Mall. The workshop held in early winter 2012, from May 21st to 25th, was advertised under the slogan "I Vote Therefore I am" and was part of a series of worldwide workshops to learn and develop poster art on significant social themes. This year's workshop focus was "Draw Me Democracy" (in Africa workshops were also held in Nairobi, Kenya and in Kumasi, Ghana).
Leading image-maker Luba Lukova was the visiting artist, flown into Gaborone from New York City. Nicola Holgate, a local designer represents the NGO Poster for Tomorrow in Botswana. The 2012 workshop was supported by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) and Botswana's REWA [Raising Education Within Africa]. The objective is to help artists, designers and others "in finding their own strong creative voice".
