The Woman's Voice Competition for Mothers' Day

The finest artistic painting representing "the Lebanese Mother"

In most parts of the world, people celebrate Mothers' Day on the second Sunday of May each year. And though our days, all the year round, are given over to ourselves and our private concerns, the least we can do is to consecrate a single day in the year to honoring sacred motherhood, turning our thoughts, our feelings, and our affections, on this day, toward those women who, all their lives long, have given us more than it is in any human being's power to give, in absolute love, generosity, and self-denial.

The credit for this custom, American in origin, goes to Mrs. Anna Jarvis of the district of Philadelphia, who in 1907 invited the people of her town to join her in a special prayer for mothers held in church; and those who adopted the new idea marked themselves out by adorning their breasts with white carnations. From this these flowers became the symbol of Mothers' Day, and among what is given as gifts on this occasion.

Then attention was drawn to the picture "Mother" by the artist Whistler, which had been hung in 1872 at the Royal Academy in England, and was afterward shown at the Paris Salon, where it won a lofty place in public taste... The crowds rushed to buy it and to have it printed in colors; millions bought it for their mothers, and to this very day it remains the most frequently given gift on "Mothers' Day."

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The magazine The Woman's Voice, which in past years has been accustomed to celebrate this occasion and to bow before it in homage and respect, is pleased today to announce to all Lebanese artists, jointly with the Department of Arts in the Ministry of Education, the grand artistic competition for the finest painting representing "the Lebanese Mother," according to the following conditions:

1 - Paintings are to be sent to the following address: The Woman's Voice magazine — the Bunduq Building, Aghriba Street, Haouz al-Sa'atiyah — Beirut.

2 - The date of the competition and the announcement of the result: at the Autumn Exhibition of Painting, November 1958.

3 - The result will be given by the jury appointed by the exhibition committee jointly with The Woman's Voice.

4 - The magazine, jointly with the Ministry of Education, will grant the creator of the winning painting a token prize of (1,000 — one thousand Lebanese lira).

5 - The magazine shall have the right to ownership of the winning painting, to print it, and to present copies of it to subscribers.

The Woman's Voice, which is deeply concerned to remain faithful to its covenant with all our mothers, appeals to Lebanese artists to answer this sincere and warm call, and to respond to it with all that sacred motherhood inspires of the tenderest meanings and the loftiest sentiments.