Slovenia, Russia and UK place tops in forest art contest

Katie Amos from the United Kingdom, Olesya Balashova from Russian Federation, and Caroline Ulaga from Slovenia have won the European Forest Week 2017 Art Contest.

FAO received 360 entries from 21 countries for the contest, which challenged participants aged 5-19 years to create a drawing or painting illustrating this year’s European Forest Week theme: Forests, our common good.

Entries reflected a wide range of benefits that European forests contribute to people’s lives and to the Sustainable Development Goals, such as providing, wood, renewable energy, food, fresh water and protecting the environment.

Drawings and paintings were judged according to their relevance to the European Forest Week theme as well as for aesthetic and technical excellence. The artwork was evaluated by a panel of judges working in forestry and communication from FAO and UNECE, who were impressed by the overall quality of entries.

Katie Amos won the 5-8 age group category with her colourful painting ‘Summer woods.’

“I like the forest because there are red, yellow, green leaves on the trees,” Katie said, explaining what inspired her to create her painting. “They have different shapes and are very nice. I painted trees in green, yellow, olive colours on my picture to show how forests are beautiful in summer.”

Olesya Balashova won the 9-12 age group category with her ‘Mysterious forest,’ and Caroline Ulaga the 13-19 age group category with her ‘In the night.’

The jury also awarded a special mention to Daria Nesterenko from Russia for her work ‘Sleeping bear,’ showing a bear hibernating under a snow-covered forest.

"The forest is the place where magic lives," Daria said.

The winning entries and runners-up will feature in a European Forest Week calendar produced by UNECE, and will also be featured in an exhibition in Warsaw during the European Forest Week, which takes place 9-13 October 2017.

See all the finalists and runners-up in the contest Flickr galleries.

Winners and runners-up

Age 5-8 category

Winner: Katie Amos, UK

Runners-up: Alice Amos, UK; Tetiyna Tykhonovska, Ukraine; and Nikolay Kamenov, Bulgaria

Flickr gallery: https://www.flickr.com/gp/faoforestry/Q2wj5S

Age 9-12 category

Winner: Olesya Balashova; Russia

Runners-up: Vadim Brekhunov, Ukraine; Pelageya Mandrykina, Russia; and Georgi Yanchev, Bulgaria

Flickr gallery: https://www.flickr.com/gp/faoforestry/mX74WJ

Age 13-19 category

Winner: Caroline Ulaga, Slovenia

Runners-up: Veronika Klimovskaya, Russia; Valeria Saliy, Ukraine; Alicja Glinska, Poland

Special mention: Daria Nesterenko, Russia

Flickr gallery: https://www.flickr.com/gp/faoforestry/qjw2qP

9 October 2017, Rome, Italy