
"The 2015 Concours received 1300 submissions," said Yusof Gajah who was on the panel of juries, "and I was very proud when Awang was shortlisted and subsequently won the Purple Island Award. The juries were impressed by his naive art and its rich local content. I hope he will keep improving his work."
The winning works will be exhibited from 1st-31st May at Nami Island, Korea.
This is not the first Awang has won a major award. In 2006, he won the Runner-up prize of the Noma Concours organised by the Asia Pacific Centre for UNESCO, Tokyo. His story and illustrations were subsequently published by Oyez!Books in a beautiful book, 'Land Below the Wind'.