International Children’s Painting Competition

About the Competition
The International Children’s Painting Competition, a United Nations Environment Program activity, encourages children from all parts of the world to focus on environmental issues and how they affect their communities, and then to express their concerns about the environment through art. The Competition’s goal is to increase environmental awareness and action among youth from over 90 countries. The International Painting Competition is organized by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Japan-based Foundation for Global Peace and Environment. The Competition is held every year for children between the ages of 6 and 15. Over 300 paintings are selected for prizes, with 7 global winners. The International Children’s Painting competition was sponsored by Bayer AG, and Nikon Corporation, and is supported by The Baum Foundation and the Me1ridian Health Foundation.

International Children’s Painting Competition Winners

2007 – Oslo, Norway
Melting Ice, It’s A Hot Topic
In 2007, The Baum Foundation was a jury member and co-organizer for the International Children’s Painting Competition in Norway that focused on the effects that climate change is having on polar ecosystems and communities, and the ensuing consequences for the rest of the world. The winning artwork from the global competition was created by 12 year-old Charlie Sullivan of the United Kingdom. “Seeing the world and our environment through the eyes of children puts into sharp focus the responsibility we have towards them and towards the future,” said UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer. The painting depicted the world as an umbrella, gripped by a dark figure, which has been turned inside out by a powerful storm of gases (The Nobel gases). This image echoed the 2007 theme of climate change under the slogan “Melting Ice/A Hot Topic?”

2006 – Algiers, Algeria
Deserts and Desertification
Dry lands, covering more than forty percent of the planet’s land area and home to one-third of the world’s people, inspired the theme for the 2006 International Children’s Painting Competition, Deserts and Desertification sponsored by Bayer AG and Nikon and supported by The Baum Foundation and Meridian Foundation. Sophisticated images of water, life, desert biodiversity and of deforestation and environmental degradation dominated the images submitted. The 2006 Global Winner of the Competition was 9-year-old Lau Tsun Ming from China, who said: “My picture shows two contrasting scenes of Earth. One is desertified (devoid of life) and the other can keep its natural beauty. If people continue to ruin the environment, our surroundings will become dull and nasty.”

2005 – San Francisco, USA
Green Cities
In 2005 The Baum and Meridian Foundation hosted the global winner for 2005, US based Ryotaro Sato’s. His painting depicted a green arc carrying life and hope sails on a grey sea under a polluted sky in watercolor. Two arrows point along diverging paths toward the future – one bright and green with nations working in harmony, the other towards environmental degradations and death. These are some of the images that were chosen as the winners of the 2006 United Nations Environment Program’s 14^th International Children’s Painting Competition on the Environment. Children from around the world were tasked with expressing their visions of “Green Cities” through their paintings. A special ceremony honoring the winners was held at the World Environment Day conference, a historic gathering of mayors from the world’s largest and environmentally strategic cities, held in San Francisco.

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