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ICEFA 2009 Prize Awards - Greece, Athens

19. 2. 2010

On 4 February 2010 the Czech Embassy in Athens organized 37 ICEFA Lidice 2009 prize award ceremony. Nine children from art centres and schools in Athens and Chalkida and two groups were awarded honourable mentions and “Rose of Lidice” medals by Ambassadress of the CR to Greece H. Mottlova.

Participating in the international children’s exhibition of fine arts “Lidice 2009” for several years, children from art and culture centres in Greece has been winning prizes every year. The 37th International Children’s Exhibition of Fine Arts “Lidice 2009” has the following winners from Greece: Vili Karnasopoulou and Konstantinos Gogos from the fine art department of the art centre in the Athens district of Dafni, Filothei Katopodi and Lambrini Michelakou from the centre of fine arts in the Athens district of Egaleo, Marios Galanis, Charikleia Karagianni, Emilian Nikoli and Georgia Panagari from the 2nd primary school “Nikos Gatsos” in the Athens district of Egaleo and Melina Loukeri the fine art department of the art centre in Chalkida. A honourable mention for children’s team work and a “Rose of Lidice” medal for the collection of paintings and drawings were awarded to the fine art department of the art centre in the Athens district of Dafni and to the 2nd primary school “Nikos Gatsos” in the Athens district of Egaleo, respectively.

The prize award ceremony took place in a very warm and pleasant atmosphere at the Embassy thank to the presence of all the winners, their parents and other relatives as well as their teachers and the representatives of the art centres and the school. In her opening speech, Ambassadress Mottlova mentioned the tragic events of the 2nd world war, common to the histories of both countries, outlined the reasons for the inception and continuation of the exhibition “Lidice” and stressed the importance of culture in strengthening relations between people and between nations as well as in acquainting young generation with historical events. As a small present or perhaps inspiration for young artists, two episodes were screened from the strip cartoon by Czech artist Zdenek Miler “Mole”.

The prize award ceremony was honoured by the presence of the mayor of Distomo, the partner town of Lidice, Mr. Athanasios Panourgias, the deputy director of the Foreign Relation Division at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Greece, Ms. Zoe Kazazaki, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece and the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs of Greece.

Then a modest banquet followed, prepared by the Embassy staff. Information on ICEFA and photos from the award ceremony were published in weeklies written in English, Athens Plus and Athens News 12 Feb 2010, and in the special supplement for children, “Erevnites”, of the Saturday issue of the biggest Greek daily, Kathimerini 13 Feb 2010.

In recent years, ICEFA “Lidice 2009” has been arousing much interest in terms of participation as well as high credibility and interest of media. The main reason for the popularity of this international competition in Greece is the fact that some events were common to the recent histories of both countries, with Lidice inhabitants’ fate being similar to that of Greek villages of Distomo (the partner town of Lidice), Kalavryta and many others. The undertakings of the Lidice Memorial, one of which is ICEFA, acquaint the young generation with tragic historical events on the international level, lest they should never happen again.

PhDr. Jiří Jílek

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