Urban arts and design youth competition

As part of its policy to engage young people in promoting socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities, UN-HABITAT is inviting youth worldwide to submit original artworks, digital designs and imagery envisioning their future cities. The artistic artworks will be under the theme “My Vision of an Ideal City”.

The International Urban Arts and Design Competition acknowledges and celebrates the contribution of visual arts and designs in sustainable urban development. The competition will showcase the diversity of future cities as envisioned by young people.


Who can take part in this competition ?

The Competition is open to youth from around the world under two categories:
Category 1 is open to individuals aged 15-24
Category 2 is open to individuals aged 25-34



The Award :

Four winners, two from the global north and two from the global south, will be awarded a cash prize of USD 500 each
Eight runners-up will be presented with a USD250 cash prize each

The winners and runners-up will also receive UN-HABITAT gift items and their works will be featured online on the UN-HABITAT website, the Global Youth Helpdesk and the Urban Gateway. The winning entries will also be displayed at exhibitions during UN-HABITAT’s events.


How do you take part ?
1. Go to the UN-HABITAT website at www.unhabitat.org/urbanarts and complete the online form with your personal details provide a brief description of the art or design work you will be sending.
2. Once you have completed the form, send us soft copies of your art or design work to urbanarts@unhabitat.org. These may be digital designs, scans or photographs of your work. Your work should depict your vision of an ideal city and may be a computer design or an artistic impression of your future city.

3. Acceptable formats include JPEG, PDF.

4. If you are shortlisted, you will be subsequently asked to send your original works with instructions on where and how to submit these.



Selection Process :

In selecting the winners the jury will be looking for originality, creativity and visual appeal. The jury will also be looking for relevance to the theme of an ideal city including features of socially, environmentally and economically sustainable cities.

Young Palestinian refugee wins UN film competition

A short film based on the story of a Palestinian refugee family returning to their ruined home in a conflict-ravaged camp in Lebanon was today declared the winner of a film competition organized by the United Nations to mark World Refugee Day.
The film by 25-year-old Tahani Awad from Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in Lebanon impressed the panel of judges with its powerful, yet understated portrayal of the experience of the family, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which organized the competition.

The theme of the contest, which was open to young Palestinian filmmakers across the Middle East, was ‘My World.’

“We invited young Palestinian refugees to show their talents, and to tell us about their world and their lives because the refugees, and in particular, our young students deserve a chance to speak to the world,” said Filippo Grandi, the UNRWA Commissioner-General, at a screening of the winning entries.

“What we received was an incredible glimpse into the reality, creativity and potential of people who have so often been marginalized and ignored but who are increasingly making their voices heard,” he said.

Over the next few weeks UNRWA will feature a selection of entries on its website and YouTube channel, starting with Ms. Tahani’s film.

UNRWA is mandated to provide services to 4.8 million Palestinian refugees living in Gaza, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the West Bank.

In his message to mark World Refugee Day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world to consider the plight of the millions of people forced from their homes and who, in most cases, want to return to their places of origin to start lives afresh.

“Let us never lose sight of our shared humanity,” said Mr. Ban.

He noted that whereas traditionally the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) supported those fleeing conflict or persecution, people are increasingly forced to leave their homes as a result of extreme poverty, environmental degradation, climate change and the growing and complex interrelationship between those factors and conflict.

“The burden of helping the world’s forcibly displaced people is starkly uneven. Poor countries host vastly more displaced people than wealthier ones. Anti-refugee sentiment is heard loudest in industrialised countries. This situation demands an equitable solution,” said the Secretary-General.