Thousands of Iranian school children take part in drawing competitionCars are speeding along the highway, north to south and south to north. To the right of the highway, the city looks modern and metropolitan. Children with happy faces play on swings and eat ice-cream. There is an airplane in the sky and other modern modes of transport such as a sky train and a bus. On the left hand side, however, things are totally different. There are tents in the middle of a dry desert. Children, together with other family members are working hard, ploughing the fields. There is a fire and the word ‘War’ is written in bold letters. This divided scene is the subject of a painting by a 9 year-old girl called Anis Jafar-nejadi from Shooshtar in Khuzestan province. She had entered it into a drawing competition, entitled ‘Excluded and Invisible’, which was held across the country earlier this year by Nashre-Sarmashgh Publication Company. The theme was taken from UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children report 2006 which talked about the many different ways children are excluded and invisible. “Holding such an event is in fact a kind of education,” said Mehdi Mirza Dayee, head of Nashre-Sarmashgh Publications. ”By distributing 100,000 papers and introducing the concept of ‘Excluded and Invisible children’, "We now know that at least 100,000 young minds were involved in thinking about how invisible and deprived children live their lives.”we now know that at least 100,000 young minds were involved in thinking about how invisibel and excluded children live their lives." Nashre-Sarmashgh Publications, with support from UNICEF, distributed around 100,000 sheets of drawing paper among 1000 primary schools across Iran. The children were also given a brief description of what it means to be excluded and invisible. After discussing the concept with their teachers and classmates, they were then given one week to put their imagination into a painting and draw their impression of invisible and excluded children. A total of 23,000 paintings were received by the organizers. A panel of judges comprised of arts and graphics students from university selected 12,000 paintings which were thought to be relevant to the topic. A panel of specialists in turn short listed 150 paintings. The final judging took place at the UNICEF office in Tehran. There were five judges including Mr Hassanpour, UniIversity professor in graphics, Mr. Akrami and Ms Ayati, both illustrators of children’s books, Mr.Towfighi, head of the art desk of Sarmashgh publications, and Miranda Eeles, UNICEF’s Communication Officer. “The standard of the drawings was very high and it was extremely difficult to choose the top three winners, ” said Miranda Eeles, UNICEF Communication Officer in Iran. “It just goes to show how perceptive children are to the world around them and how important it is to allow them to express their views through a medium such as art.” Fifty drawings were chosen to be part of an exhibition, and three winners were selected for first, second and third place. The final winners are as follows: First prize: Hanieh Nowruzi, 8-years-old, from Karaj.
Second prize: Sarah Badi’ee, 10-years-old, from Bojnourd.
Third prize: Sahel Rabbi, 11 years-old from Tehran.
Prizes will be awarded to those who came in the top 50 of the competition.
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