Peace is represented visually in many ways.
Whether it’s a dove carrying an olive branch, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament symbol, a headscarf-wearer embracing somebody with a yarmulke, or Winnie giving the world two fingers at Buckingham Place in 1945 (or perhaps we should go with the hippy version in reverse …), we all have our favourites.
But how do the citizens of tomorrow see it? A recent project undertaken at the Copenhagen International School website asked its students this very same question, and the results were so impressive that the school has been nominated for a Severin Award.
Won over by social media post
The award is given to a private school in Denmark that publishes online content that shows its values.
The jury were won over by the display the students put on for UN Peace Day in September: a series of images showing their differing perceptions of peace, which were shared on the school’s Facebook page.
Smiling children, perhaps unsurprisingly, featured heavily on the ‘peace quilt’ – a collage of pictures and explanations noticed by the Vostok communications office in Aarhus, which promptly submitted a nomination.
Depending on a public vote
“The students will be happy to hear that – and of course I was too,” the CIS communications manager Ida Storm Jansen told the school’s website.
“Everyone at the school, students as well as teachers, place great emphasis on commitment to society – both in Denmark and the world. It is a driving force for the school, which we are very proud of. ”
The deadline for submissions is October 18. Suggestions can be sent to vostok.dk/severin-prisen. A shortlist of three nominees will then be revealed, after which the winner will be decided by a public vote.
