Press release

Seven year old from Bangalore Awarded International Photo Award

© UNESCO
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22 September 2021
Last update:20 April 2023

In a ceremony held at the Austrian Parliament last night in Vienna, a young girl hailing from Bangalore was awarded the Peace Image of the Year in the children category in the prestigious Global Peace Photo Award. 

Seven year old Aadhyaa Aravind Shankar had traveled from India to receive the award. She was the first Indian ever awarded the prize in either the adult or children category. She received a diploma, a medal and a check of 1,000 euros.  

The Global Peace Photo Award recognizes and promotes photographers from all over the world whose pictures capture human efforts towards a peaceful world. It is awarded annually by Lammerhuber Editions in partnership with UNESCO and the Austrian Parliament. This year, some 15,000 photographs were received, with Indian photographers as the largest group of contributors.

Aadhya was rewarded for a photograph entitled “The Lap of Peace”, which shows her mother in the lap of her grand-mother. 

I am deeply honored to stand here, in front of you as the winner of the Children's Peace Image of the Year 2021. when I was told that the theme for this competition was 'Peace', the first thought that came to my mind was that we humans can continue to live in peace only when Mother Nature is protected and nurtured. A few days later, I saw my mother sleeping peacefully in her mother's lap. That is when the idea of connecting a mother's lap to the lap of nature occurred to me. Nature is the universal mother for all of us, and thus, this photograph was born.
Aadhyaa Aravind Shankar on receiving the award.
Young Aadhyaa was clearly the star of the show. She received the prize with great aplomb, and the audience loved it! I warmly congratulate her”.
Eric Falt, the Director of UNESCO New Delhi, who had presided the Jury of this year's prize.

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