Leverkusen, July 20, 2012 – The picture shows a penguin standing in a polar landscape, surrounded by snowflakes depicting various threats to nature: deforestation, smoking factories, unsorted garbage. The penguin is looking down in a humble pose at its body, on which images showing communities where humans and animals live in harmony with nature: a small town with lots of trees, solar systems on the roofs and bins for separating waste; a forest with diverse fauna; a clean lake with colorful fish. With this interpretation, 13 year-old Diana Fan from the United States won the 21st International Children’s Painting Competition on the Environment on the subject of “Green Communities.” Bayer and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), as part of their global partnership, organized this unique competition, in which 637,675 children from all regions of the globe participated. Other project partners include the Japan-based Foundation for Global Peace and Environment and Nikon. In addition, more than 2.2 million children submitted their entries to a national pre-contest in China.

Diana will be honored in late 2012 at an international ceremony together with second-place winner Ka Mun Leong, f/14, from Malaysia, and the winners from the six different world regions. In addition to the trip, the children receive cash prizes (USD 2,000 for the global winner, USD 1,000 each for the second-place global winner and the regional winners) and material prizes.

“Participants in the International Children’s Painting Competition continue to inspire the judges with their creativity and enthusiasm for the environment," said UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. “On behalf of UNEP, I congratulate Diana Fan and the other prize winners on their achievements. Their colourful artwork sends a clear message that we are all part of the global green community, and that by leading more sustainable lives, we can ensure that the rich, diverse environments depicted in these paintings can be supported for generations to come.”

„It’s impressive to see the children's level of awareness of environmental issues and how they use their imagination to express this in pictures,” said Dr. Michael Preuss, head of Corporate Policy and Media Relations at Bayer. “The winning picture expresses the hopes and fears of the younger generation and is an appeal to everyone to actively support the conservation of nature.”

Following preliminary selection in the world regions, a jury of educators and representatives of UNEP, Bayer, the Foundation for Global Peace and Environment and Nikon selected the winners plus 50 additional pictures to be displayed in exhibitions around the globe. Winners were selected on the basis of three criteria: Was the theme communicated clearly? Was it visualized in an interesting way? Does the picture convey a strong message? A gallery of the children’s artworks can be viewed online at:
www.childrenspaintingcompetition.bayer.com

2013 painting competition launched under the theme: “Water: Source of Life. Where does it come from?”
Starting right now, children all over the word who will be between the ages of 6 and 14 on World Environment Day, which is June 5, 2013, can submit pictures to the 22nd International Children’s Painting Competition on the Environment. In keeping with the 2013 UN International Year of Water Co-operation, the theme of this competition will be “Water: Source of Life. Where does it come from?”. Deadline for entries is February 28, 2013. Children can submit one picture, which cannot be entered in any other competition. Drawing materials can be selected freely. The pictures must be in DIN A4 or A3 format and labeled on the back with the participant’s first name, last name, gender, date of birth, address, telephone number and email address.
Send pictures by regular mail to UNEP’s European office:

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Regional Office for Europe
International Environment House
11-13 Chemin des Anémons
1219 Châtelaine, Geneva
Switzerland