30 May 2023

2024 FAI Young Artists Contest theme: ‘Air Sports for a Peaceful World’

To show how air sports can make a positive contribution to a more harmonious planet, the FAI is asking young artists to reflect upon the theme of ‘air sports for a peaceful world’ for the 2024 FAI Young Artists Contest.

The benefit of practicing air sports is not limited to the skills humans can learn, such as piloting an aircraft or jumping from a plane. Aviation activities such as ballooning, aeromodelling, skydiving, gliding, even becoming an astronaut, also give us the opportunity to develop our social skills and help us to learn a sense of solidarity, friendship, and tolerance which flows beyond the limits of the airfield.

FAI wants to inspire young artists from around the globe to take up their pens, paints or pencils to show how air sports can bring people together and encourage collaboration, respect and kindness to create a more peaceful world.

In the annual competition which has been running since 1986, young people have used their imaginations to bring all sorts of wider ideas surrounding aeronautics to life, such as inventing new aircraft or harnessing cleaner energy. FAI is therefore looking forward to seeing young artists’ representations of how the universal values in air sports can encourage peace in the freedom of the skies in the next contest, to be judged in 2024.

The 2024 FAI Young Artists Contest is open to youngsters between the ages of six and 17, with FAI gold, silver and bronze medals and diplomas presented to the top three artists in each of the following three categories:

  • Group I - Junior Category
  • Group II - Intermediate Category
  • Group III - Senior Category

Each year young artists from FAI member countries enter a national competition hosted by the FAI member. Winning national entries are sent to FAI headquarters for the final round of judging. In 2023, artworks were put forward from China, Finland, France, Hungary, India, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Thailand and USA.

2024 theme: ‘Air Sports for a Peaceful World’

Let us imagine a peaceful world in which people live together in harmony, uniting through common interests – such as air sports – to create friendships, show kindness and respect.

All sports have the power to bring people together, promoting positive relationships that cross borders and contribute to a better, more peaceful world. Sport helps people to learn universal values such as solidarity and fair play which extend far beyond the boundaries of a football pitch, an ice rink or an airfield.

The many people around the world who participate in air sports enjoy meeting new friends in new places. Air sports such as Aerobatics, Aeromodelling, Airships, Amateur-Built and Experimental Aircraft, Balloons, Drones, Gliding, Hang Gliding, Helicopters, Manpowered Flying, Microlights, Parachuting, Paragliding, Paramotors and Power Flying, all have the power to contribute to a peaceful society, by bringing people together.

Practicing these sports doesn’t only mean knowing how to fly an aircraft or jump from an airplane; or even acquiring new skills, breaking records, and winning competitions... These activities also give us the opportunity to develop our social skills and help us to learn a sense of solidarity, friendship, and tolerance on and off the airfield. By showing kindness and respect to the people we meet, we can learn to see beyond differences and actively work to overcome difficulties and conflicts.

It’s time to grab your brushes and pencils! Let's imagine air sports in a peaceful world. Can you use your imagination to show how pilots, skydivers, and astronauts show kindness and respect and become friends? Your picture could show people enjoying air sports at a friendly competition, helping others at the airfield, or even working together in space! How does peace look in the freedom of the air or among astronauts? Air sports bring people together, no matter what they think about politics, religion, or race. Let’s unite through art and and air sports, and show others how to inspire love, respect, and unity in the sky and beyond!

Image from Pixabay