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Vote for your favourite artwork in each age group
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Guidelines
Hear me. See me. Walk with me!
A call to be creative and support foreigners 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. Worldwide, more than 80 million people have fled their homes to escape 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:
LOVING THE STRANGERS AMONG US. Everyone is worthy of justice, compassion and love.
Types of art expression that can be submitted:
Two-dimensional artworks like painting, drawing, collage, and comic page.
Please take a good-quality photo of your work and submit it through our webpage.
How to apply?
Interested candidates can submit their work online in jpeg. The deadline to apply is 21 May 2023.
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, 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 kindness, hope, and solidarity. Shortly after the Committee members’ selection, On 24 May, ADRA will launch an invitation on social media for the public to vote from 25 May to 3 June, for their favourite piece of art from each category. Each participant is welcome to share the artwork on their social media.
Winners will be notified by email after voting is completed. The online award ceremony will be released on 17 June 2023.
More info:
- Ausenda Martins: [email protected]
Award Ceremony 2022
Application form
MORE ABOUT 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 persecution, violence, hardship, war, etc. Listen and think about their stories.
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 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
LOVING THE STRANGERS AMONG US. Everyone is worthy of justice, compassion and love.
LOVING THE STRANGERS AMONG US
More and more people worldwide are forced to flee their homes, looking for a safer place to live. Their wish would be to stay in their dwellings. Nevertheless, due to war, political instability, persecution, natural disasters and climate change, millions must run for their lives every year.
According to the UNHCR, the number of displaced people globally reached 103 million in mid-2022, surpassing the barrier of 100 million for the first time. This number increases yearly; not even the Covid-19 pandemic decreased this trend. The most forgotten of these are not always the refugees who can cross a border and seek assistance in a foreign country. The majority are Internally Displaced People (IDP). They are refugees inside their own countries. There is no international assistance for these more than 53 million people (in 2021), so they are the most forgotten of the displaced.
The largest IDP communities before the Ukraine crisis are in Syria, Colombia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They long to return to their places of origin but have to be foreign inside their own country.[i]
As God’s children, we are called to show justice, compassion, love and practice kindness to the strangers among us, even if they come from another region of our country.
Who are these people in your community, and what do you know about them? What can you do regarding their situation? Will you be indifferent and not love them?
In the Bible, God urges us to love them as much as we love ourselves: “And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19:33, 34 (NKJV)
