About the competition

World Water Day is celebrated annually on March 22. This holiday was established by the United Nations to draw everyone's attention to the quality and value of this natural resource, since only 1% of the water reserves on the surface of our planet are suitable and safe for human consumption.

To raise awareness about the current water crisis in the world and to promote public awareness of the need to urgently improve the situation, we, VENDEN, are organizing a children's drawing competition on the topic "Water in Our World" for the fifth year in a row.

For the first time, we announced the competition for the growing new generation of Earth's population - students of preschool educational institutions – in 2022. The response was very high – we received more than 3,400 drawings from 330 educational institutions. And with each year the activity only increased – in 2023, a total of 4062 children's drawings were sent from 332 educational institutions, in 2024 we received more than 5500 drawings from 421 educational institutions, and in 2025 the number reached 7,450 drawings from 446 educational institutions.

This year, in 2026, we are organizing the fifth VENDEN children's drawing competition in honour of the UN World Water Day and we invite all Latvian preschool educational institutions and educational institutions implementing preschool educational programs to participate therein! Between March 20 and 29, the works of young artists will be submitted for evaluation by an independent artistic jury, as well as participate in a public vote. In each of them, three winners will be determined in four categories (by age and number of authors of the drawing – individually and in a group) and winners of incentive prizes. In addition, the jury will present letters of appreciation for artistic performance, while VENDEN will award one of the works submitted to the competition with its Sympathy Award.

All authors will receive a diploma for participation!

What to Keep in Mind When Participating in the Contest

We want participation in the contest to bring joy and satisfaction to every participant, while also giving them the opportunity to receive recognition for their creative ideas and effort. Therefore, this year as well, every author of a submitted drawing and their represented educational institution will receive a participation diploma. We encourage all students to take part, regardless of their artistic abilities.

For a successful start, we have compiled some key guidelines that we recommend paying attention to before submitting drawings for the contest.

• The drawing must be entirely created by the child
  The participation of preschool educators and caregivers is only allowed in organizing and supervising the work process, for example, by giving suggestions and advice. Adults, including the child’s parents, as well as older brothers, sisters, and other persons, are strictly prohibited from assisting or creating the work on behalf of the child (including, but not limited to, drawing, coloring, gluing, cutting, etc.). Submitted drawings that show signs of adult involvement, in the opinion of the contest organizers, may not be approved for participation.
  
   
• The drawing must meet certain criteria to be approved for the contest
  Before preparing and submitting the drawings, please carefully read the contest rules and check that the work meets the requirements. The most important points are:
   
  • Author of the drawing – a preschool student aged 2 to 7 years
  • Submitter of the drawing – the principal, methodologist, teacher, caregiver, or another representative of the preschool educational institution
  • Children should create the drawing on a flat surface, preferably in A4 size, using any art technique freely
  • Drawings must be photographed or scanned with good quality and submitted in JPG, JPEG or PNG format
  • No personal information, including the child’s surname, should appear on the drawing
  • The use of commercially produced stickers or prints (including colouring sheets) is not allowed
  
   
  Important! If the submitted drawing(s) do not comply with the contest rules, a notification explaining the detected non-compliance will be sent to the email address listed in the educational institution representative’s profile. We encourage you to monitor incoming emails to avoid missing important information.

Experience of previous years: What is the secret of winning the public vote?

The results of public voting in the competitions organized over the past four years proved that the highest results are obtained by friendly and active teams that urge for voting for the submitted drawings not only the parents of the group of pupils, but also other representatives of the institution, residents of the district, village or even the whole city. Therefore, if your child or introduced pupil succeeded in creating of a beautiful and interesting drawing, be sure to urge your loved ones to vote for him! Even the most beautiful drawing can get a small number of votes if no one knows about it.

We remind you that it is allowed to invite other people to vote for children's drawings submitted to the competition, but it is forbidden to offer any tangible or intangible value in exchange for votes. We carefully followed and analysed the voting carried out in contests of previous years, and this year too we will make sure that it takes place in accordance with the rules of the competition.