The 24-year-old Portuguese designer who created the official image for the WYD Lisbon 2023 states that young people should not stand still since they must build a fairer society and be aware that the world is in their hands

Beatriz Roque Antunes studied design in London and in Lisbon she is currently working on a communication agency, in the portuguese capital city. After sending her work to the contest that chose the official WYD Lisbon 2023 logo, the 24-year-old designer waited several weeks for a phone call. “I really wanted to win”, she admits. “One day somebody called me from the dentist, and I thought it could be someone from the WYD” she remembers, excitedly. “Then, when they told me I was the winner, I took a while to realize what was happening. It means a lot to me. It’s not every day that one has the opportunity to offer their gifts to the faith and the Church”.

When she has free time, besides drawing and creating comics, she likes to go to the cinema and to the beach. She practises kickboxing quite often and she spends a lot of time with her family. “They mean a lot to me”, says the young Portuguese girl who, as a student of Communication and Design in Faculdade de Belas Artes, in Lisbon, participated in Missão País, a catholic project.

that was born in Portugal and that includes young students from more than 50 universities. “It was when I got to know Our Lady better because in the year when I was the prayer team leader of Missão País, the suggestion for reflection was based on the Visitation passage, the same that gave the name to the WYD of Lisbon” she tells. “It was really nice when I realized that Pope Francis chose this topic to the World Youth Day. There was one extra reason to compete.”

Her family and her closest ones were also relevant for her participation on the contest. “My sister and some friends were preparing a suggestion for the Hymn contest. I participated in their reflection about the topic and I was feeling the need to take part on it as well”, she says, adding that as the days went by the theme “Mary arose and went with haste” (Lc1, 39) occupied her thoughts and prayers more intensely. “I decided to take a week of holidays right before the due date to deliver the work and I was working on my proposal till the last day”.

Besides analysing the international logos of the different editions of the WYD, Beatriz also did a research on brands and images which revealed the national identity and that promoted the idea of a team. “Then I understood that I had two choices: whether I’d make a proposal with an assumed Christian identity or I’d do something beautiful but with no identity”, she remembers. “I chose the first one”.