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2008 Peace Of Art Awards Ceremony         Top row:1. Lora, the winner in the Painting category, tries out her English! (L-R: Andy Brooks – MC, Lora, Carol Naughton – Peace of Art). 2. Emilia Jinkinson receives her award as winner in the Sculpture/Collage category from Sally Milne (British Pugwash). 3. As does Emily Howard as runner-up in the Film category. Around 130 young people, along with teachers, parents, friends and invited guests gathered at ‘The Venue’ in the University of London for the Peace of Art Awards Ceremony. But it wasn’t just about waiting to see who had won awards in each category. We also heard about the inspiration for the contest, the Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Sir Joseph Rotblat, as this day would have been his 100th birthday. Sally Milne from Pugwash, who was Prof Rotblat’s secretary, spoke about what he was like while photos of him were shown on the big screen, ending with some footage of Rotblat speaking. The announcement of the winners followed and the winners, runners-up and those highly commended by the judges went on stage to collect their awards. They were presented by a number of people including Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz, Africa Express, and now working on ‘Monkey Journey to the West’), Rusty Bradshaw (from the band Razorlight), Andrew Hurst (Phoenix Dance Theatre) and Sally Milne (British Pugwash).
As advertised, the winners of the music category were also to be invited to play as part of the ‘Get Up Stand Up’ show in Leftfield at the Glastonbury Festival next year. So it was great to see Geoff Martin, the Leftfield organiser, present the special invite to the winners, Sarah Laarous, Marzuq Williams and Chileshe Kangombe from Canons High School in Edgware for their song “Walk Away”.
There was also the “Communicating The Message” award for everyone up to the age of 25 which included all the Peace of Art entries plus more from the older ones. This carried a £1000 first prize and was shared between the “Walk Away” composers and Larisa Dashintseva, known as Lora, who had travelled from Russia to be at the awards ceremony! The day finished with a fantastic free gig headlined by The Paddingtons and including Homecut and War Makes Heroes. A great way to end the day!
Huge thanks go to everyone involved in making the event such a great success! Pictured above: The Production Team (Luca, Gautam (front), Tony and Carol) & Rusty Bradshaw. Clearly some of them saw something going on off camera! The full list of winnersCategory: Visual Art - PaintingHighly CommendedBOBBIE HUME (Cramlington Community High School, Northumberland) Runners-UpEMMA SLYFIELD (Darrick Wood School, Bromley) Winner!LARISA DASHINTSEVA (Russia) Category: Visual Art - Sculpture/CollageWinner!EMILIA JINKINSON (Lutterworth High School, Leicestershire) Category: Visual Art - PhotographyWinner!ERICA DI NISO (USA) Category: Visual Art - FilmRunner-UpEMILY HOWARD – No Blood for Oil Winner!BORIS SAMOILENKO – War is not the Answer (Russia) Category: DanceWinners!AMI CHEESMAN (Tolworth Girls’ School, Surrey) Category: Written WordRunner-UpREBEKAH BOOTH – A Normal Day (Northgate High School, Norfolk) Winner!ISABEL OTTER-BARRY ROSS – Survival (Hereford Cathedral School) Category: MusicHighly CommendedEVE FLORIDES & Runner-UpKAMYAR DELKHOSH-NAVAZ – War and Peace (Canons High School, Edgware) Winners!SARAH LAAROUS Category: Communicating The MessageHighly CommendedGARY GORMANLY – Love, Joy, Peace, Hope Joint Winners!LARISA DASHINTSEVA (Russia) Messages from Nobel Peace Laureates
Go for it! Love and blessings, Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate 1984
Jose Ramos-Horta |
How blessed we are that Prof Rotblat was a peacenik. You too can be committed to peace and justice and to see a nuclear free world. 
I did not have the privilege of working with Sir Joseph or knowing him long. When I met him at the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize, I was overwhelmed by his earnest honesty, humility in the best sense of that word, and commitment to a better world. Anytime I think of a nuclear-freed world, Sir Joseph is who I have in my mind. Any time I want to convince people that a different world is possible, Sir Joseph stands as an example to emulate. Would that the world had known him as I know I should have known him. I knew him but for a nanosecond of his marvellous life yet he has changed parts of my world view. All of us who stand here to honour Sir Prof. Joseph Rotblat's 100th birthday and his vision of a world without war and nuclear weapons, must commit ourselves to making that vision a feasible reality. 
In honour of Professor Rotblat's 100th Birthday, I would like to applaud each and every young person who submitted an art project that embodies their noble vision of a world without war and nuclear weapons. I am confident that the culture of peace that we all desire to live in will be materialized through young people and I extend my best wishes to all of you.