Guidelines
Hear me. See me. Walk with me!
A call to be creative and support displaced people among us!
An image is worth a thousand words. The Art Contest “Hear me. See me. Walk with me.” encourages young people across Europe to use their creativity to learn, understand, and support people forced to flee their country.
This art contest is your chance to use your creativity for a good cause. More than 108.4 million people have fled their homes to escape climate disasters, conflict and persecution. Children, youth and families can use their talents to share the message that everyone deserves to be treated with practical kindness, justice, compassion and love – to live as God intended.
Who can apply?
The contest is open to all children, youth (ages 5 to 25 years), and families.
All artwork must be the sole and original work of the participators. Parents/guardians may provide minimal help to younger children.
Contest entries will be divided by age, and the most outstanding artworks will be chosen from each age category. Artworks will be evaluated by the Art Committee. Members will evaluate based on creativity as well as how effectively it conveys the message of kindness, hope, and solidarity. Each participant is welcome to share the artwork on his/her social media.
Categories:
- 5 – 9 years
- 10 – 14 years
- 15 – 18 years
- 19 – 25 years
- Families
Theme:
WHEN THE CLIMATE DESTROYS OUR HOME.
Type of art expression that can be submitted:
Collage – Click for definition and demo video.
The collage may also include some text.
Please give your work a title, take a good-quality photo of your work (without any background), and submit it through our webpage.
How to apply?
Interested candidates can submit their work online in jpeg. The deadline to apply is 12 May 2024.
Who will win?
Contest entries will be divided by age, and the most outstanding piece of art will be chosen from each age group. Some artworks may be used to further promote the education of all children, shared on social media, and used as education material for raising awareness about the migration issue as widely as possible.
Winners will receive awards and experiences appropriate for different age groups, for example, an art workshop, school supplies, gift vouchers for attending a Camporee, a youth camp or congress, or a volunteer experience of ADRA projects in Europe. Winners can also donate the value of their prize, and ADRA will provide school supplies for the refugee children.
The Art Committee will evaluate artworks and choose the three best entries from each category.
Jurors will determine based on creativity and how effectively it conveys the message of climate change and human displacement. Shortly after the Committee members’ selection, on 15 May, ADRA will launch an invitation on social media for the public to vote from 17 May to 2 June, for their favourite piece of art from each category.
Winners will be notified by email after voting is completed. The online award ceremony will be released on 15 June 2024.
More info:
- Ausenda Martins: [email protected]
Award Ceremony 2023
MORE ABOUT the THEME
Young artists are kindly invited to prepare artworks that will “touch” the theme explained below. Each participant is welcome to explore thematic further with parents, teachers, friends, and the faith community.
All around us live people who were forced to flee climate disasters, persecution, violence, hardship, war, etc.
In addition to personal engagement and interaction with refugees, we highly recommend online teaching resources about refugees, migrants and internally displaced people prepared by ADRA International (material is here). The UN agency for refugees (UNHCR) developed the material for age groups (6 – 9, 9 – 12, 12 -15, 15 – 18 years). Link to resource page here.
Video reports and materials from previous years are available here.
WHO are refugees?
Refugees are people who have fled climate disasters, war, violence, conflict or persecution and have crossed an international border to find safety in another country. They often have had to flee with little more than the clothes on their back, leaving behind homes, possessions, jobs and loved ones.
These journeys, which all start with the hope for a better future, can also be full of danger and fear. Some people risk falling prey to human trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Some are detained by the authorities as soon as they arrive in a new country. Once they’re settling in and start building a new life, many face daily racism, xenophobia and discrimination. Some people end up feeling alone and isolated because they have lost the support networks that most of us take for granted – our communities, colleagues, relatives and friends.
Theme
WHEN THE CLIMATE DESTROYS OUR HOME
We know that many people have to leave their homes and become displaced due to conflicts in this world. In times when the climate changes drastically, more and more people will leave their homes because of extreme weather events, such as heat waves, floods, and wildfires, but also slow occurring changes, such as rising sea levels. Imagine living on an island, and it becomes smaller every year. You will be forced to leave your home and look for a safer place to stay. This form of migration is drastically increasing because we have not managed to stop the global temperature from rising. If we don’t act swiftly, change our lifestyle and urge our decision-makers to cut greenhouse emissions, more climate disasters will happen, which means more people will be affected and forced to leave their homes behind. This is what we call climate migration. Most climate migration will occur inside a country’s borders, where people become internally displaced – but people crossing borders to less dangerous countries with more moderate temperatures will also increase. Sometimes, it is not a climate catastrophe that displaces people. Oil and gas companies have relocated entire communities for decades. The climate crisis is threatening the livelihoods of tens of millions of people. It is very important that we are aware of the issues our global family faces and speak up for those affected.
