My sister Ma Su Nandar Aung’s prize-winning drawing.

EIGHT Myanmar children won prizes at the recent 13th Kanagawa Biennial World Children’s Art Exhibition held at the Kanagawa Plaza for Global Citizenship, in Yokohama, Japan.

The festival aims to create an understanding between children from around the world through art. The competition is open to all children between the ages of four and 15.

“From among a total of 33,865 artworks submitted from 101 countries - including 554 from Myanmar - eight paintings by Myanmar children won prizes,” U Thaung Shwe, the director general of the Myanmar Department of Education, Planning and Training, told the Myanmar Times.

The winning children from were Maung Paing Phone Pyae and Su May Lwin from Dagon township, Maung Pyae Phyo Win and Maung Khant P Han from Bahan township, Ma Thin Thin Nwe and Ma Thu Zin Kyaw from Hlaing township, Ma San Hnin Phyu from Yankin township and Ma Su Nandar Aung from Ahlone township.

The youngest was six-year-old Ma Su Nandar Aung, from the Sixth Basic Education High School in Ahlone township.

She was recognised for her brightly coloured crayon drawing My Sister.
“In spite of being young, she is very bright and has talent,” Su Nandar Aung’s art teacher Daw Nwe Nwe Yi said.

Each winning child received a plaque and certificate from the exhibition.
The Kanagawa Biennial World Children’s Art Exhibition has been held since 1980.