Peace Poster Contest

You have, no doubt, heard of the Rotary and Lion’s Clubs.  While I knew they were “service” organizations, I did not appreciate the extent to which they supported programs of international understanding and peace.  For instance, I just came across the Lion’s International Peace Poster Contest , which has been underway for some years already.  As the site explains:

“Each year, Lions clubs around the world proudly sponsor the Lions International Peace Poster Contest in local schools and youth groups. This Contest encourages young people worldwide to artistically express their visions of peace.”

You can see the winner for 2007-2008, for which the theme was “Peace Around the World” here ; and all the finalists here .  These are really quite good, and the comments are very touching.

The theme for 2008-2009 is “The Power of Peace”, and students aged 11, 12 or 13 on November 15 (ie last month) are eligible to participate.  The site gives more details, including the various deadlines that have to be met to be considered for a prize etc…

As you have probably figured out by now, I think this sort of thing is great.  In fact, I wish I’d done more of it when I was in school.  I can remember doing ‘trick or treat” for UNESCO one year at Halloween, but that is about it.

Kudos to the Lions for a great idea!