BD Zoom Award 2020 : our employees voted too!
More than 100 staff and members of their family were registered to take part in the staff version of the 2020 BD Zoom Prize. Discover the winning comic book selected in an online vote.
Five years of public-private partnership
The BD Zoom Prize is a result of the partnership between the Department of Public Education, Training and Youth (DIP) and the BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation, which is a founding partner. The aim is not only to popularise comic books among young people and promote the French-language works of Swiss authors, but also to make culture accessible to as many people as possible.
“The BD Zoom award is primarily an invitation for students to discover original artistic objects, different compared to books they would usually study at school.
Leafing through a comic book is a way of opening oneself to a different universe, with its own narrative codes and aesthetic. Given that comic books are not at the heart of regular school teaching traditions, students approach them without inhibitions and in a more curious and autonomous way compared to the method of studying a classical novel.
The exploration of those books has a high point, as meeting with the authors helps them understand the fact that behind every book and work the is a different personality, with their way of working, their desires, and their imagination…
The wild gamble is to believe that the student who will have taken part in this adventure will then want to discover by himself/herself the many other universes that books contain.” Tells us Gabriella Della Vecchia, Cultural Councillor School&Culture, Art, citizenship, school and sport service at the Youth and training public education department.
A completely new format for the 5th BD Zoom Prize
For the past five years, the BD Zoom Prize has been awarded by high school pupils (15-19 year-olds) to the best comic book published during the year. The procedure involves not only reading comic books individually and the award ceremony, but above all interactive exchanges. Usually more than a hundred meetings are organised in classrooms to discuss comic books with the authors in order to better understand their approach.
This year we had to rapidly rethink the format. Not only for the high school pupils, but also for the authors and BNP Paribas in Switzerland employees, who also award a “staff prize” to the author of their choice.
Because it was impossible to organise physical meetings with the students and staff, the authors answered a series of questions by video.
The exploration of those books has a high point, as meeting with the authors helps them understand the fact that behind every book and work the is a different personality, with their way of working, their desires, and their imagination…”
Gabriella Della Vecchia
Three finalists with very different projects
In 2020, more than 700 high school pupils in Geneva took part in the competition and shortlisted three comic books as finalists: Femme Sauvage by Tom Tirabosco, L’enquête de l’Inspecteur Mc Cullehan by Pierre Schilling and Saccage by Frederik Peeters.
Tom Tirabosco chosen as the winner by both pupils and staff
Following an online vote organised by the DIP in May, the pupils awarded the prize to Tom Tirabosco’s Femme Sauvage.
The BNP Paribas in Switzerland’s employees made the same choice. Instead of the usual physical meeting of staff following a Q&A session with the authors, an online vote was organised to enable the bank’s staff to pick their favourite comic book. Like the high school pupils, the bank’s staff were wowed by Tom Tirabosco’s Femme Sauvage.
Femme Sauvage, a dystopia that advocates a return to nature
Femme Sauvage is the story of a young woman who finds herself faced with a hostile environment, pushing her to go beyond her limits. The story shows both the beauty and cruelty of nature in a world which may resemble a not-too-distant future.
“In the near future, in a world in total chaos, where unbridled capitalism and climate disruption have turned everything upside down, a young woman sets off alone to join the rebellion. This will take her on a long a journey in a hostile environment, a journey that will push her to her very limits.”
