Nunavik Tourism seeks entries in logo contest

ODILE NELSON

Nunavik Tourism has yet to receive a single entry in its region-wide contest to find a new logo – despite offering $500 for the winning entry.

The organization opened the contest mid-October in a bid to replace its old trademark, designed by a southerner in 1995, with one created in Nunavik.

The association has sent out contest information to schools and municipal offices across the region. It has also announced the competition on the radio and posted flyers in some local supermarkets.

But even with the Nov. 25 deadline closing in, it has, so far, received only casual inquiries about the contest.

Allen Gordon, the executive director of Nunavik Tourism, said the organization may extend the original deadline if it means people will enter.

“The board may also keep the old design if nothing better is submitted,” Gordon said.

The tourism association wants a new design because its board never had a say in choosing the old one.

“Makivik had a tourism department at one time and they had the logo designed down south. It was sort of thrown upon our association but was never approved by our directors up here,” Gordon said.

The old logo shows an Inuk paddling a kayak in front of a map of Nunavik and Quebec.

The contest is open to all Nunavimmiut and any design will be considered.

Of course, Gordon said, he hopes entries will suggest to tourists what they may expect during a visit to Nunavik.

“Hopefully, it’s tourism related. Something that shows Nunavik as a tourism destination somehow. Something to do with tourism,” he said.

People interested in competing should send their original designs to Nunavik Tourism, PO Box 779, Kuujjuaq, Quebec JOM 1C0.

Local tourism outfitters banded together and incorporated Nunavik Tourism in 1982. It underwent significant reorganization in 1995 and two years later it began to receive significant funding from the Quebec government.