No replies to this topic

[Ashot]

Armenian children among winners of the UNEP International Children’s Painting Competition

12.06.2008 14:14

Gloria IP Tung, a fourteen-year old girl from Hong Kong, is the winner of the United Nations Environment Programme's 2008 International Children's Painting Competition. Gloria received her award on World Environment Day, 5 June 2008, from UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark at a ceremony in Wellington (New Zealand), along with the two global runners-up and five of the regional winners.

An unprecedented 15,550 entries from 90 countries around the world were submitted for the International Children’s Painting Competition on the Environment. Over 67 children from Armenia participated in this competition. Armenia’s participation was organized locally by the UN Department of Public Information Yerevan Office and Armenian UN Association (a partner NGO of UN Armenia Office), with financial support for postal services from UNICEF Armenia Office.

Regional Selection was done by the relevant UNEP Regional Offices and its partners. Regional winners were announced on 22 April 2008. Maria Kassabian a 10-year-old Armenian girl from Nigeria won the first prize from Africa region. Among 120 European regional winners were 12-year-olds Shant Hakobyan and Zhenya Rubenyan from Armenia.

Five category winners were announced: one 1st prize, two 2nd prizes, five 3rd prizes, nine 4th prizes and forty 5th prizes. In addition to these – 6 regional winners were announced still in April. The selection of these 63 paintings (Shant Hakobyan’s painting included) are being shown at Wellington’s (New Zealand) Te Papa museum before touring other venues around the world.

The International Children’s Painting Competition on the Environment is organized annually by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Japan-based Foundation for Global Peace and Environment (FGPE), Bayer and Nikon Corporation. It has been held since 1991 and has received over 190,000 entries from children in over 100 countries.

This year’s competition theme was Climate Change: Actions you can take now. Children aged 6 to 14 were invited to express through painting actions they can take to reduce the impact of climate change such as using renewable energy, introducing energy saving light bulbs at home, sharing vehicles and using public transport, planting trees etc. The competition ran from 24 September to 15 January 2008. The organizers invited children from all over the world to submit their paintings to the UNEP office in their regions.

The International Children’s Painting Competition on the Environment is part of UNEP's TUNZA strategy for children and youth. TUNZA is a word in Kiswahili that means to “treat with care”. The programme aims to provide young people with information and tools on how to “treat Mother Earth with care” and how to act for a better world.

Public Radio of Armenia