Awards ceremony of the 2024 All-Ukrainian Student Drawing Competition 2024" in Kyiv

On 8 February 2025, the Sholem Aleichem Museum in downtown Kyiv hosted the awards ceremony of the All-Ukrainian Student Drawing Competition "Ukrainian Jewish Encounter: Our Stories Are Incomplete Without Each Other, 2024" and the opening of an exhibition of drawings by its participants.

For the fourth year in a row, UJE rallies talented youth around the common understanding of the history and culture of the Ukrainian people and other peoples that have lived side-by-side with it in the territory of modern Ukraine for centuries. In 2024, the competition underwent significant expansion, welcoming the additional category of 8th-grade and 9th-grade students from general and specialized schools, gymnasiums, and lyceums.

Drawing competitions are very popular among school students because drawing allows them to learn to express their ideas, emotions, and world perception, which helps develop creativity and self-expression. The All-Ukrainian Student Drawing Competition "Ukrainian Jewish Encounter: Our Stories Are Incomplete Without Each Other, 2024" is particularly important. As they work on drawings on interethnic relations, students develop a deeper understanding and respect for cultural differences, which helps form tolerance among young Ukrainians and improve their grasp of the history and culture of other peoples.

Students from different parts of Ukraine and abroad participated in the competition. An international panel of jurors, composed of professional painters, art critics, and historians, evaluated the submissions and selected the winners.

At the beginning of the event, Vladyslav Hrynevych, Jr., head of UJE's Office in Ukraine, briefly told those present about the competition's history and its previous editions before moving on to the awards ceremony. The winners were awarded monetary prizes from the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, a Canadian charitable non-profit organization that organized the event. All participants received certificates and books on Ukrainian-Jewish relations, history, and culture.

Iryna Klymova, director of the Sholem Aleichem Museum and head of the jury, gave a brief professional review of the winners' drawings and expressed her admiration for the talent of young people and their ability to express their thoughts and feelings about different cultures through art. She noted that the competition serves as a platform for teaching children about diverse cultures and history, helping shape a more informed society.

Svitlana Hrynevych, administrator of UJE's Office in Ukraine and curator of the competition, invited everyone to the grand opening of the exhibition of works by the participants of the All-Ukrainian Student Drawing Competition "Ukrainian Jewish Encounter: Our Stories Are Incomplete Without Each Other, 2024."

The works of the competition winners can be viewed here.

Vladyslav Hrynevych, Jr, head of UJE's Office in Ukraine