Work has started on Samoa’s 60th Independence Anniversary celebrations scheduled for 1 June this year, Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa has announced.

Fiame gave details of the independence anniversary preparations in a video interview with the Press Secretariat, which was uploaded to the official Government of Samoa Facebook on Sunday. The interview was done after the launching of the Government’s national development plan in Savai’i last Friday.

Fiame said the first meeting by the Organising Committee has already been done with the Committee tasked to advise on the opening of entries for the design of a logo and theme to mark the diamond jubilee.

“Our people have been invited to submit entries on a logo and theme for the 60th independence which will be assessed to see who will win the reward,” the Prime Minister said. “The [organising] committee will arrange how many days will the celebration last and also a programme on the events that will be held.

“Or whether by that time our borders will open for any incoming guests.”   

A number of countries have started reopening their international borders for commercial travel according to Fiame.

“We have to start thinking and planning and also there are a lot of requests from our people abroad who want to come for the 60th independence celebration."  

The Prime Minister added that it is yet to be officially confirmed, but a number of New Zealand leaders have advised of their availability to visit Samoa, if the country celebrated its diamond jubilee.

“However, everything depends on the COVID-19 situation and weather conditions for the upcoming plans,” Fiame said.

A public notice issued by the 60th Independence Anniversary Organising Committee last week has invited entries for a competition to develop a unique 60th Independence Anniversary logo and theme to celebrate the country’s diamond jubilee. The entry with the winning logo design and description will receive a cash prize of $5,000. 

The winning logo and theme will feature prominently in all related events and promotions and will be highly visible. According to the criteria: the logo or theme should be instantly recognisable, clear and visually appealing no matter how it’s applied. 

It may in a special way depict Samoa’s journey since Independence, 60th year of independence – diamond jubilee, inclusiveness of all Samoans, national spirit and traditional patterns and motifs and other elements of the Fa'ásamoa.

All entries must be submitted in Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) and Portable Network Graphic (PNG) format and must be no more than 3MB with a maximum resolution of 300 dpi. It must also include a brief description of the logo/theme design (up to a maximum of 200 words). Entrants should consider that the logo and theme must be versatile and will be used on multimedia channels, merchandise, etc.

All entries must also include a signed registration form confirming that the work submitted is an original piece created by the entrant for the purpose of the competition; that should their entry win the competition the entrant agrees to transfer all rights to the logo to the Government of Samoa or its nominated representative as deemed fit. 

Furthermore, the competition winner must be able to accommodate any changes requested by the Organising Committee and provide the final logo as a Vector File.  All entries must be emailed to [email protected] or [email protected] no later than 5:00pm, Friday 18 March 2022.