12-year-old Ukrainian wins int'l children's painting competition for Europe

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) on Tuesday announced that the European winner of the 24th international children's painting competition goes to 12-year-old Evdokia Bogacheva from Ukraine.

According to UNEP, Bogacheva won the competition for the European region because of the originality of her painting, its overall impression and its clarity in interpreting the theme of sustainable energy.

The theme for this year's painting competition was "We have the power!" designed to support the UN decade of sustainable energy for all.

UNEP said renewable sources of energy such as biomass, hydropower, geothermal, wind, solar, hydrogen and the ocean, all were represented in the winning painting inspired many young talented artists aged nine to 14 from all over the world.

"This year's winning painting conveys one of the best ways we can all move to 'green' our economy," a statement from UNEP noted.

Evdokia, who has been studying at an arts school since the age of seven, says that she was greatly inspired by the military conflict in her home country of Ukraine.

"People in some areas have difficulties with power supply, heating and water supply. I am very distressed by the troubles people of my country encounter," she was cited by UNEP as saying.

For her, it is very bad that people must suffer instead of using the natural resources for peaceful purposes.

As the regional winner for Europe, Evdokia will receive a 1,000 U.S. dollars prize, and her painting will compete with other paintings from around the world for the global prize later this year.

The children's painting competition is organized every year by the UNEP and the Foundation for Global Peace and Environment. It has been held since 1991 and received more than 3 million entries from children in over 100 countries. Endit