The audience was put in a good mood by chairing the ceremony Piotr Jankowski who how many cities and towns of Poland are represented at the ceremony. No one guessed, so he started to list them. Each mentioned town was rewarded by the audience with a loud applause. It turned out that at the ceremony there were the residents of 21 towns and cities.
The foreign participants of the contest, who came to the ceremony from Vitebsk in Belarus were particularly warmly welcomed.
The ceremony was graced with the presence of the Deputy Director of the Bulgarian Culture Institute in Warsaw - dr. Petar Lyanguzov, the Chairman of the District Council Ursus of the City of Warsaw Henryk Linowski, the Deputy Mayors of Ursus District - Wiesław 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 as well as the chairman of the jury Wojciech Siwik, the representatives of the English Language School “Early Stage” and the Secretary of the Pniewy Commune.
This year’s edition of the contest was organised under the auspices the Chairman of the District Council Ursus of the City of Warsaw Henryk Linowski and the Mayor of Ursus District of the City of Warsaw Urszula Kierzkowska.
The Ombudsman for Children Marek Michalak had sent to the organisers a congratulatory letter and the Chairman of the Education Commission of the Council of the City of Warsaw Małgorzata Żuber-Zielicz had sent some greetings.
In the official part of the ceremony all speakers drew attention to the importance of the contest in developing creative imagination of children and youth. The Deputy Mayor Wiesław Krzemień underlined that the contest showed that a small thing like a bookmark could unite a lot of people not only from different cities but also from different countries.
In this year edition of the contest took part young artists from 13 countries of Asia and Europe: Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia and Switzerland.
The theme of the contest was "The view from my window." Due to the large number of the submitted works (1 400) they were classified into 13 age groups. The art works were judged in the national and general categories.
A great interest in the theme of the contest was revealed not only by a significant number of participants but also by original art ideas such as a cardboard construction imitating the window frame or drawings made on the abrasive paper. This year edition attracted a much larger number of high school students than in previous years. Their works also won the significant number of the awards in the general category. The artistic level of the submitted works was quite high although the jury did not award any of art works with Grand Prix.
The world watched from the windows of young artists was colorful and diverse; there were the windows from which we could look straight into the sky and there were windows opened onto a beautiful garden or a park with a pond or a meadow of lush grasses. We could watch the trees bending under strong wind or flooded streets as well as streets bathed in the sun in a lazy Sunday afternoon bright lights of city in the evening; some artists fixed their window in the cabin of the ship at the rough sea, the others in a hotel in Paris or in a shelter in the Tatra Mountains.
There were windows open directly onto the playground with a sandpit and windows from which we could watch the rooftops and skyline of the city. Surprisingly, some windows were closed but most of the artists left the windows open. There were artists whose room was like an astronomical observatory with a large, curved bow windows. Some young artists went outside to show its window covered by plant or in the typical urban building with factory chimneys in the background. The main protagonist of many paintings was a cat, whose presence in a strange way changed the perspective of viewing the world through the window.
The art and educational centers with the established reputation confirmed again their top rank, winning awards in the most age groups. For the first time young Russian artists took part in the contest as well as Polish debutants from the Masovian towns such as: Garwolin, Minsk Mazowiecki, Płock, Supraśl, Tarczyna, Wiskitki and Włocławek.
The artistic personalities of young people taking part in the contest are not fully developed so the task of the jury was not only to reward the best work but also to distinguish those works that indicate an existing creative possibilities despite of the various imperfections. One of the aim of the contest is to encourage young artists to develop further their skills and talents.
At this point it is important to indicate that watching so many great artworks made by so many talented people is a particular aesthetic and emotional experience. On behalf of the organisers we would like very cordially to thank all the participants of the contest for that emotion which was provided by their works.
At the end of the ceremony joyful but tired of emotions and journey participants were invited to a warm lunch. In the corridors they were still talking about gained awards as well as the next year edition of the contest.
The start of the next edition of the contest is planned on 4th September 2017 and the theme of the contest will be “The lines, circles and triangles”. All of the young artists are invited to take part in the next year contest.