RUFA hosted the final event of the third edition of the Contest Licei, dedicated to the theme Normal for whom? Express your uniqueness: an opportunity for celebration, discussion and inspiration, with the special participation of Giulio Xhaet.
28 May 2026, 6.00 pm — RUFA, Via Giuseppe Libetta, 7 – Aula Magna (G13), Rome — Free admission.
«Normal for whom? Express your uniqueness»
Who decides what is normal? This question is at the heart of the third edition of the RUFA Contest Licei, the initiative aimed at final-year students from Italian upper secondary schools, inviting young people to put themselves to the test through creativity.
Following the previous editions dedicated to the themes Toxic Love and Sbagli di Successo, the contest returns with a new challenge: to explore the concept of normality, question it and, through an artistic project, express what it means to be authentic today.
Students have been invited to reflect on identity, social pressure, freedom of expression and cultural models, creating works that offer a personal perspective on the theme. Illustrations, posters, videos, social media campaigns, installations and performances thus become tools to assert a point of view, go beyond imposed standards and transform uniqueness into a creative language.
During the final event, the selected projects were presented and the young artist Pauleen Tan was announced as the winner, impressing the jury with her short film “UNMASKED”. Thanks to the €5,000 scholarship, she will soon begin her journey at RUFA in the three-year GD-Comics and Illustration programme.
Pauleen Tan also received a special award, designed and created by RUFA student and artist Clarissa Secco. The work is inspired by the well-known puzzle of drawing a little house without ever lifting the pen from the paper: a single line that, once segmented, gives shape to a new path. A symbol of uniqueness, completeness, simplicity and complexity. Made of iron — a strong material that nevertheless requires care — the work invites us to move beyond immobility and monotony, opening up to discovery, freedom and a personal sense of safety.
Talk with Giulio Xhaet
The award ceremony will also be an opportunity to explore the contest theme with Giulio Xhaet, Partner and Head of Communication at Newton Group, content creator and LinkedIn Top Voice on the professions of the future.
Through a talk dedicated to uniqueness and the construction of identity, Giulio Xhaet will offer a concrete, generational perspective on the transformations of the contemporary world, the value of non-linear paths and the importance of personal expression in educational, professional and creative choices.
His contribution fully reflects the heart of the project: reflecting on the pressure to conform to predetermined models of “normality” and opening up new possibilities for storytelling, awareness and the future.
The guest will be joined in conversation and the event moderated by René Angeramo, psychologist-psychotherapist, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) instructor and Head of the RUFA Orientation and Counselling department, and Tommaso Fagioli, multidisciplinary artist and RUFA lecturer in Digital Cultures.
NORMAL FOR WHOM? Relive the final event.
UNMASKED – Pauleen Tan’s winning project
Browse the photos from the event
