COME tomorrow, the departure lounge of the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay will come alive with the top 100 entries from the recently concluded International Reggae Poster Competition.

The exhibition will feature the posters from the fifth annual contest, selected from among 1,270 entries submitted by 748 graphic designers, representing 75 nations.

According to competition’s co-founder, Maria Papaefstathiou, the objective of the International Reggae Poster Contest is to build awareness for positive reggae music and to celebrate the global achievements of reggae and its impact on the world.

“The term reggae used by the contest encompasses all the popular Jamaican musical genres: ska, rocksteady, roots reggae, dub, dancehall, and the unique Jamaican sound system. We are looking for your talent and creative visual expressions, and we are very excited to see what designers can come up with in their original poster designs that will capture the energy and the vibe of reggae music,” the Greek graphic designer told Jamaica Observer.

The contest also aims to raise awareness and funding through the sale of posters for the Alpha Institute (formerly Alpha Boys’ School), a non-profit institute that provides vocational training and general education for 150 teens and young men from inner-city communities. The school has nurtured several notable icons of Jamaican music and continues to make an important social and cultural contribution.

The competition’s first place winner, Russian Julia Egorova, won a trip to Jamaica which is sponsored by MBJ Airports, operators of the Sangster International Airport, and the Spanish Court Hotel to participate in the awards ceremony and spend a week exploring the island’s culture. Second place went to Cortney Benvenuto of the US, and third place to Simona Galizia of Italy. Posters created by two Jamaican graphic designers, Andre Hutchinson and Phillip Taylor, were also selected for the exhibition.

Launched in 2012, the International Reggae Poster Contest is brainchild of late Jamaican graphic designer Michael “Freestylee” Thompson and Papaefstathiou. Jamaican cultural critic and retired The University of the West Indies Professor Carolyn Cooper is an advisor and board member of the organisation behind the competition.

Exhibitions have been held across the world at Jamaican embassies; reggae festivals; in galleries, museums and universities. This is the first year the exhibition will be hosted by an airport.

Notwithstanding its name, the poster contest welcomes submissions that celebrate all genres of Jamaican music, including mento, ska, rocksteady and dancehall. Two jury panels of 24 judges each, hailing from Jamaica, Canada, Greece, the United Sta, Mexico, Cuba, Ghana, China, Japan, Bolivia, Italy, Israel, and the United Kingdom.