Kurdistan Region student wins WHO COVID-19 art competition

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The World Health Organization (WHO) office in Iraq on Monday announced that a student from Sulaimani province in the Kurdistan Region won the international health organization’s regional COVID-19 art competition.

WHO periodically holds such contests as part of its health education mission, to raise awareness, and, in this case, to commemorate World Health Day.

Shad Dler, a high school student from Sulaimani, won the regional competition for his painting of Earth wrapped in a face mask. The drawing also depicts a family, indicating the importance of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 13-year-old student’s painting “speaks a thousand words and symbolizes the world struggle with #COVID19 pandemic,” WHO Iraq said in a tweet on Monday.

13 yrs old Shad Dler from Sulaymaniyah Governorate of the Kurdistan Region of #Iraq won the @WHO regional competition with a painting that speaks a thousand words and symbolizes the world struggle with #COVID19 pandemic, 2/3 pic.twitter.com/5UE0o9w0yW

— WHO Iraq (@WHOIraq) May 30, 2021

Five winners were selected from each age group, and the winners were awarded a prize of up to $200 along with a certificate of merit.

“Shad's deserves this recognition for his magnificent work of art, and as the first contestant from the Kurdistan Region of #Iraq to win this prize. Shad is the pride of his family, his school, his city, and the whole country,” WHO said. 

Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly