On the occasion of the celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the University of Otago, the Dhammachai International Research Institute (DIRI), with the cooperation of the Religion Programme, University of Otago, has invited people to participate in the “Art for Peace Competition 2019”. We were delighted to initiate this competition by encouraging people to create beautiful images of peace. We hoped to encourage them to realize the importance of inner peace for themselves, their communities and the world.

The competition started on the 15th of April and ran until the 9th of July 2019. It was divided into four categories: primary school, secondary school, tertiary school, and non-students. With 160 participants, we received many beautiful and creative art works on the theme of peace. After the five referees gave their scores for the art works, we gave out 4 First Place Awards, 4 Second Place Awards, 4 Third Place Awards, and 43 Consolation Prizes.

We would like to show our gratitude to all participants, whether or not your art works won awards. Those art works reflect how you have concerned yourselves about peace, the community, and the world, thus they are worthy to be exhibited in the public and published in DIRI’s Art for Peace book.

After considering all the wonderfully creative entries, we are proud to announce the award winners as follows:

• Primary school students

1^st prize is Javara Clark
2^nd prize is Kaela Freeland
3^rd prize is Clariza Genobe
8 consolation prizes are :
                 – Maliana Lesa
                 – Damon Jiang
                 – Flynn Richards
                 – Katherine McArthur
                 – Sam McGee
                 – Bella Wilson
                 – Imogen Yates-Aitken

• Secondary school students

1^st prize is Imogene Maclean
2^nd prize is Samantha Wan
3^rd prize is Suhjung (Bella) Yang.
5 consolation prizes are :
                 – Ayesha Downes
                 – Willow Stanton
                 – Mas star
                 – Hannah Laugesen
                 – Charlotte Campbell
                 – Holly Bettis

• Tertiary school students

1^st prize is Rebecca Buhler
2^nd prize is Hannah Savage
3^rd prize is Gordon Zhao
5 consolation prizes are :
                 – Sam Doorey
                 – Piupiu – Maya Turei
                 – Catherine O’Brien
                 – Nikole Robson
                 – Samera Omidwar

• Non-students 

1^st prize is Yong Wei Lim
2^nd prize is Sam Sharpe
3^rd prize is Mas star
5 consolation prizes are :
                 – Geoffrey Wigley, Alise Winter, Alex Gorrie
                 – Lorna Watkins-Dooley
                 – Aimee de Klerk
00000000– Tao Wells
00000000– Emmellee Rose

Prizes FAQ. If you get a prize, or have any further questions, feel free to contact us anytime., please email us at artforpeace@diri.ac.nz