Ms Elena Karantagli, who is a High School student in Polygyros Chalkidiki, won the «Pathways to a Culture of Peace: Global Contest for Mutual Understanding – Video clip category», an initiative launched by the Director-General of UNESCO.

UNESCO is pleased to announce the winners of Pathways to a Culture of Peace: Global Contest for Mutual Understanding, an initiative launched by the Director-General of UNESCO on the occasion of the International Day of Peace on 21 September 2012.

More than 1,300 young people worldwide between 14 and 25 years of age participated in this contest. About 400 works were submitted for four competing categories as follows: essay, photography, video and graphic arts.

Works were evaluated by a jury based on their originality and creativity with which young participants perceive and expressed their vision of peace and non-violence and how they are practiced every day. At the end of deliberations, eight works were selected, illustrating the ability of authors to highlight the core values of the culture of peace and non-violence, including respect for diversity, intercultural and interreligious dialogue, justice and equity.

The promotion of these values lie at the heart of the International Decade for the Rapprochement of Cultures (2013-2022) proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2012. The results of the «Pathways to a culture of peace» emphasize the need for better synergies between the knowledge of the other, respect, dialogue and peace by encouraging young people to consider the «other» in the rich diversity of its origins, history, culture, language, religion, etc.

The winners of the contest are:

1. «Essay» category

• Mr Ismail Ben Amor (Tunisia), «Controversy»
• Ms Olga Katilé (Mali), «If peace …»

2. «Photography» category

• Mr Ho Rui You (Malaysia), «Faces»

3. «Video clip» category:

• Ms Elena Karantagli (Greece), «The Seeds of Peace»
• Mr Mher Ghalumyan (Armenia), «My Fairy Tale»

4. «Graphic Arts» category

• Mr John Paul Usman (Nigeria), «The Nigeria of my dream»
• Ms Slavina Nenkova (Bulgaria), «Freedom of speech»
• Ms Tanny Achar (Mexico), «Values butterfly»

We congratulate all participants for their commitment to a culture of peace and non-violence and for the quality and relevance of their work. Each will receive a certificate of participation issued by UNESCO. The winners of the contest will be contacted individually to inform them on the modalities for the reception of their prize.

The best entries in the contest will be displayed in the E-Notebooks on peace and intercultural dialogue, a project implemented in the framework of the Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Programme for the culture of peace and dialogue, funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The objective of these E-Notebooks is to create a new type of narrative that encompasses the ordinary and not so ordinary aspects of intercultural solidarity among young people. Thus, users will be invited to consider, in a creative manner, the encounter with the otherness by sharing their daily personal experience of peace and dialogue in different areas: cultural, religious, scientific, and educational; at the local, national or international levels. Accessible to everyone as a downloadable multilingual presentation, these E-Notebooks can include stories, projects, interviews and questionnaires.

Source: Unesco.org