PRESS RELEASE
UN Department of Public Information
Contact: Information Officer Armine Halajyan
Yerevan Office (Armenia)
Tel.: (374 10) 560 212
Fax/Tel.: (374 10) 561 406
Mobile: (374 91) 20 37 25
PRESS RELEASE
Armenian 10 Children Winners of the International Children’s Art Competition
Yerevan, 28 November 2007. – Over 475 Armenian children participated in
an International Children’s Art Competition announced this spring by the
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in
collaboration with the Department of Public Information and the United
Nations Postal Administration. The aim of this competition was to select
6 winning designs to issue stamps with the title `We can end poverty’ in
commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
(October 17) and the first United Nations Decade for Eradication of Poverty.
On November 28 a gifts giving and honoring ceremony of the 10 winner
children took place in the UN Armenia Office. Representative of UN
Department of Public Information Mr. Valeri Tkatchouk, Head of
Department of International Organizations Ms. Dziunik Aghajanyan,
Representative of the Ministry of Youth and Sport Mr. Arsen Soghomonyan,
Chairman of Armenian UN Association Mr. Karen Asatryan and other UN
Armenia Office staff together with the parents and teachers of the
children came to congratulate the kids. Special gifts were given to the
children by the Ministry of Youth and Sport, UN Resident Coordinator, UN
Department of Public Information, UN Children’s Fund and Armenian UN
Association. UN DPI launched a special picture gallery on its website
where the pictures of all 475 participant children and bilingual
information is posted
( &task=view&id=1641&lang=en).
Armenia’ s participation to this International competition was organized
locally by UN Department of Public Information Yerevan Office and
Armenian UN Association (a partner NGO of UN Armenia Office). The
competiton announcement was circulated to all provinces of Armenia
through public and art schools. About 475 designs from Yeravan, Shirak,
Lori and Kotayk provinces were gathered. The age range of participating
children was from 5 – 15.
Before sending the paintings to New York, an exhibition of the
Children’s paintings was launched in the UN Armenia Office on the Child
Protection Day June 1. Through their artwork, the children demonstrated
enormous creativity, skills, thoughtfulness and concern for the poor.
They showed that poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon and a variety
of actions can lead to its eradication. With UNICEF’s generous
assistance these paintings from Armenia were sent to New York to join
similar collections from around the world.
Paintings were presented during the commemoration of the International
Day for the Eradication of Poverty, on 17 October 2007, in New York.
After careful consideration a panel of Judges composed of members from
the United Nations Division for Social Policy and Development, the
United Nations Department of Public Information and the United Nations
Postal Administration selected:
6 winning designs of participating children, Mariam Marukyan (age 13)
>From Armenia among them, will be issued as United Nations stamps in 2008.
20 additional designs that were awarded Merit Certificates, among them
Anahit Martirosyan (age 11), Lusine Nersisyan (age 14) from Armenia.
24 designs that received Certificates of Recognition, among them was
Ellada Khachatryan (age 11) from Armenia.
Other 173 children got Notable Entries: among them were Khachik
Gharibyan (age 12), Hripsime Ghazaryan (age 9), Mary Kocharyan (age 14),
Nonna Gasparyan (age 14), Suren Sahakyan (age 11) and Kristine Hovsepyan
(age 10).
Over 12,000 children from all over the world participated in this Art
Competition. The highest number of entries came from Norway (1063),
followed by the United States of America (675), Portugal (543), Poland
(528), Armenia (475), India (469) and Indonesia (447).
Participants from the following countries were among the top 50 winners:
Armenia, Bulgaria, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Republic of Korea,
Mexico, Moldova, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Sri Lanka, Thailand, USA,
Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The selected other five winners of stamp designs are: Elisabeth Elaine
Chun Ning Au (China, Hong Kong), Ranajoy Benerjee (India), Rufaro Duri
(Zimbabwe), Bryan Jevoncia (Indonesia) and Grace Tsang Ji Yan (China,
Hong Kong).
The six winners had the chance to be in New York and get congratulations
>From the UN High-ranking Representatives.