Padova Meraviglia

Between September and October 2017, we organised the “Padova Meraviglia” art competition, promoted by the Padova DMO (Destination Management Organisation) Consortium and media partner Mattino di Padova, to showcase the city’s identity and promote it as a tourist destination. The competition, open to all amateur and professional photographers, citizens and tourists of any age or origin, invited participants to upload a photo representing Padua and its province (e.g. on tradition, culture, landscape or architecture) to the official online portal, free of charge, based on the idea of “wonder”. At the same time, a second competition, “Space & Architecture”, was created, reserved for university students at the University of Padua.

SAY took care of the graphic ideation and the project development, providing its strategic consultancy to formalize the competition. The agency then dealt with the technical and administrative management throughout the event’s duration, by assisting participants and by supporting the client in the closing and determination of the winners

Andrea Righetti’s photo was declared the winner of “Padova Meraviglia” by a prestigious jury composed of the President, Prof. Carlo Alberto Zotti Minici of the Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology at the University of Padua, and jurors Paolo Cagnan, co-editor of Il Mattino di Padova, Flavio Rodeghiero, President of the DMO Padova Consortium, and Luigi Voltolina, photographer and artist, active in Italy, Europe and the United States.

During the month-long competition, over 700 photographs taken in Padua and its province were collected and published on the official website www.padovameraviglia.it. These were voted on by over 2,750 registered users, for a total of 3,645 votes. The 12 selected photographs were used to create the 2018 calendar for Il Mattino di Padova, in the year celebrating the newspaper’s 40th anniversary. Given its success, the initiative was replicated in the provinces of Belluno and Venice, promoted by the respective local newspapers of the Finegil group, Il Corriere delle Alpi and La Nuova Venezia Mestre, with the aim of collecting the best shots from participants and creating the official calendar for the newspapers.