An inspiring and wide theme of this year edition
“My Little Homeland" attracted young artists from 14 countries - Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Hungary and Italy.
It is said that the one of the causes of the popularity of the contest is its formula, which allows young artists to create bookmark projects in different techniques, in different materials and in different format. Each edition of the contest has another theme. The topic of the first edition in 2009 was just the sunshine bookmark. The second one was on the library, the third - on volunteering, the fourth – on my favorite book, the next - my most beautiful trip, and in 2014 the topic was “The Rite of Spring”
The contest has become international after including it in the EU project "Art of the book" in 2012.
The patronage over this year edition took the Chairman of the District Council Ursus of the City of Warsaw Henryk Linowski and the Mayor of Ursus District of the cisty of Warsaw Urszula Kierzkowska.
The ceremony was graced with the presence of the Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina - His Excellency Duško Kovačevič - the Charge d'Affair of the Embassy of Bulgaria - Ivan Kitov, the Counsellor of the Embassy of Slovakia - Milan Novotny, the Deputy Director of the Bulgarian Culture Institute in Warsaw - dr. Petar Lyanguzov, the Mayor of Ursus District - Urszula Kierzkowska and the Deputy Mayors of Ursus District - Wieslaw Krzemień and Kazimierz Sternik, the Chairman of the Education Commission of the Ursus District Council - Wanda Kopcińska and the Head of the Department of Culture of the Ursus District - Aleksandra Magierecka.
The most of the little homelands chosen by the authors of the projects were places where the live (cities, towns, villages) or where they spend holidays or visit occasionally located at the seaside, in the mountains, on the lakes or rivers. The little homeland of young artists was also the world of passions and interests - the world of books and literature, sports (horse riding, football), music classes, art, theater, and favorite pets (cats, dogs) and the favorite clubs and cultural institutions.
The greatest recognition of the jury gained the work of Miroslaw Nadobnik "My Little Homeland Sulęcin". The work was awarded the Grand Prix for an original idea, extraordinary form and technique and a natural beauty of the art work. The artist’s little homeland Sulęcin (a small village in Poland where Mirosław Nadobnik lives) is presented as a globe and as a place that is familiar and very close to him. In the opinion of the jury the project extremely accurately and beautifuly evoked the theme of the contest. The jury evaluating the work of Miroslaw Nadobnik highlighted a very good painting, combined with art elements stuck on the spatial globe. Such an amalgation brought an impressive result.
Other awarded art works had been committed by young artists from art and educational cen-ters of educational and artistic- with established reputation such as DDK Bronowice Lublin, MDK Żyrardów, Pałac Młodzieży (Youth Palace) in Warsaw, Fine Arts Schools from Radom, Zielona Góra and Koszalin, Gallery of Art in Ruse Bulgaria, the Workshop "Mrowisko" of Vitebsk and National Center of Art Creativity of Children and the Youth in Minsk (both Belarus) and Elementary School of Arts in Berettyóújfalu (Hungary).
Jury paid also attention to the art work of young artists from Bosnia and Herzegovina who presented the collection of artistically sophisticated graphic works about various scenes of everyday life in their villages.
Foreign students (Americans, Koreans, Japanese and Russians) from international schools in Kazakhstan, Switzerland and Serbia named their little homelands the countries of their origin.
Their works were a wonderful exemplification of a true strong emotional bond with their native countries.
The award giving ceremony proceeded in a solemn atmosphere, full of joy of the winners and the satisfaction of parents and educators. It is worth noting, that some of the winners travelled hundreds kilometers to take part in the ceremony. After the ceremony the audience could look at some awarded art works presented at the exhibition.
The organizers of this year's competition were: the Public Library in Ursus district; the District Office in Ursus of the City of Warsaw, Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Warsaw, the Slovak Cultural Institute in Warsaw.
The start of the next edition of the contest is planned on 12th September 2016 and the topic of the contest will be “The view from my window”. All of young artists we invite to take part in the contest.