The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE decoration of a new Bahamasair plane sparked complaints from artists who submitted designs for a competition.

People were invited to submit work to decorate the plane for the 50th anniversary of independence celebrations.

Participants said the airline did not communicate with them properly before it ultimately chose the official logo embraced by the National Independence Secretariat.

“We still have another half a year left and so the airplane will display the national design for the 50th anniversary celebration,” Tracy Cooper, the airline’s managing director, told Eyewitness News on Tuesday.

Marcus Miller, one participant in the competition, said he was disappointed because better designs were submitted than what was chosen.

“Even if it was too expensive, they could have come to one person and be like, hey, we want you to design, but can you tweak it a little bit to make it more affordable?”

He said when he submitted his design earlier this year, the email identified on the competition flyer wasn’t working.

“I was like, they aint serious about it,” he said. “I was like, let me do it any which ways so I can just post it on my social media and I can just put it in my portfolio.”

Joel Murray said he also experienced issues submitting his application. He said communication was poor.

“They said, wait to hear back from them in two weeks, but I never did,” he said, adding the airline should have said what design was chosen.