The first-ever international contest Eco Picture Diary was held among schoolchildren in Azerbaijan on November 1 and will last until November 15th.
The national stage of the contest is organized by International Dialogue for Environmental Action (IDEA), under the auspice of UNESCO and sponsorship by Heydar Aliyev Center and Panasonic Marketing CIS. The contest will be held in Baku and Ganja.
The presentation ceremony of the contest was held in the Heydar Aliyev Center on 1 November. It was attended by 314 secondary schools. The ceremony to be held in Ganja on 2 November will be attended by 49 secondary schools.
Eco Picture Diary 2013 aims to promote ecological culture among younger generation and care for flora and fauna. The project also serves to form an active civil stance on environmental and health care protection.
The schoolchildren aged 6-11 and 12-15 years can take part in the contest. The participants are required to include a picture and describe an idea in Eco Diary prepared especially for the contest. The Eco Diaries to be disseminated through the teachers starting from 1 November should be submitted till 15 November. The diaries will be assessed by a panel of judges.
A panel of judges composed of representatives of IDEA, Heydar Aliyev Center, Education Ministry of Azerbaijan, Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry of Azerbaijan, UNESCO, PMCIS, media and NGOs will select one national winner out of 20 finalists.
The winner will be announced on 1 December. The Eco Diary winner will be sent to the international panel of judges of the contest. The best six finalists from all participating countries will participate at a ceremony announcing results of the contest in Paris in December.
The detailed information about the contest can be found at IDEA website at www.ideacampaign.org .
Eco Picture Diary contest has been held since 2008. A total of 300,000 schoolchildren from 51 countries attended the contest last year.

AzerTAc