With great success, and with the participation of dozens of students from schools throughout the country, the 2018-2019 Student Painting Competition Award Ceremony was carried out at NJV Athens Plaza Hotel on Monday, 22 April 2019.

The competition, which was organised for the fourth year in a row by the “Marianna V. Vardinoyannis” Foundation in conjunction with the Children’s Gallery of Greece was dedicated to Human Rights this year and the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Proclamation on Human Rights, which was celebrated across the globe in 2018.

Welcoming students, parents, and teachers, the President of her namesake Foundation, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Mrs. Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, thanked everybody for their participation and stressed the great value of children’s being familiar with the concepts of human rights.  “Human rights have been at the heart of our Foundation’s activity throughout the many years it has been active. And raising students’ awareness of human rights is a priority for us, as children are humanity’s hope, and the key players in a future of peace, understanding, solidarity, and love.  This year too, we received hundreds of beautiful works from every corner of Greece. Small masterpieces that express the students’ talent and the excellent guidance by their educators and parents.  For us, all students are winners, because the effort, the participation, the joy of creating and the time they dedicated count above all else.”

At the same time, Mrs. Vardinoyannis announced the next Student Painting Competition for the 2019-2020 academic year, which will be dedicated to the tragic destruction of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.  The topic will be “Peoples and their Monuments,” so that, through the competition, the younger generation can achieve greater awareness of the need to preserve and protect World Heritage Sites.

Immediately afterwards, the talented painter and wife of former Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, Mrs. Shanna Ingram Papademos, the distinguished art historian and art critic Dr. Dora Iliopoulos Rogan, as well as the Head of the Children’s Gallery of Greece, Mrs. Aikaterini Lengou, spoke to the children about the value of art, congratulating them on their significant effort.  Subsequently, the Director of the Art Programme of the “B & M Foundation for the Fine Arts”, Mr. Takis Mavrotas, took the floor, introducing the event’s key speaker, internationally acclaimed sculptor Mrs. Vana Xenou.

In her speech, Mrs. Xenou spoke to the children about art and in particular stressed the power of artwork created by children.  “Yet again, I saw that we can be taught by a young child!  That which powerfully unites the past with the future, which originates from the depths of creation.” Mrs. Xenou stated.

Distribution of the Awards to children whose artwork was selected by the jury followed.  In the 1st and 2nd Grade category, the following students received awards: Thania Gitsa (Mandoulides Schools), Sokratis Bafitis (College of Rhodes), Ioanna Siska (Elementary School of Loutro, Amfilochia,) in the 3rd and 4th Grade categories: Efrosini Vergitsi (International School of Athens), Kyriaki Moschovaki (1^st Experimental Elementary School of Thessaloniki), Maria Karatasou (23^rd Elementary School of Heraklion, Crete) in the 5th and 6th grade category: Paraskevi Siampani (4^th Elementary School of Livadeia), Manya Daoula (International School of Athens) as well as a group project by the following students: Elena Abueid, Maria Bouzaranidis, Rodion Kyronen, Ross Uriel (International School of Athens).  All the artwork selected was featured on the Christmas card of the “Marianna V. Vardinoyannis” Foundation, while the winners received a collectable gift, an etching provided bysculptor Vana Xenou.

Commemorative certificates were awarded to 35 additional students whose work made it to the Competition’s final phase.  Indeed, the fact that awarding of the Commemorative Certificates was carried out by Mrs. Vardinoyannis and the winner of the first Student Painting Competition, Thanasis Sotiropoulos, was particularly moving.