VietNamNet Bridge – More than 160,000 children under 15 years of age in HCM City are expected to join the annual green painting contest to be held next April.

Little Picasso: Choi Trau (Buffalo Fight) by Nguyen Ngoc Phuong Uyen, 14, a student at Nguyen Du High School, won second prize in this year’s Green Drawing contest.

The official ceremony to open the contest will be held at the Ben Thanh Theatre tomorrow.

Ha Kim Dung, vice chairwoman of the board, said at a press conference last Tuesday that more than a hundred art teachers will receive short training courses before helping the contestants finish their work.

She noted the contest had considerably increased the popularity of painting classes in primary and secondary high schools.

She said she expected the contest to develop into a national competition.

The painting contest began in 1998 with around 1,600 children participating in it, and the 100-fold increase in just 11 years attests to its growing popularity, she added.

The best works will be displayed in national and international exhibitions, and auctioned to raise funds for developing talent and other charity programmes.

Dung said that the contest had unearthed several talented artists over the years.

Nguyen Hoang An is an example. He has participated in the contest several times since 2001, and he has won many prizes. Now studying at the HCM City college of Fine Arts, An already has a private gallery at his home.

The final rounds of the 2009 contest will take place on April 4 for computer-generated paintings at the Tran Dai Nghia High School; and on April 5 for group paintings at the Tao Dan Park.

Contestants can draw using computers, on paper, and create group paintings. A special painting contest will be held for visually-impaired children.

The contest is organised by the city’s departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Education and Training in collaboration with the HCM City General Sciences Library.

(Source: Viet Nam News)