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International Children's Art Exhibition LIDICE 2021 – laureates from Latvia

The 49th edition of the International Children's Art Competition "LIDICE 2021" culminated in the Czech Republic with the publication of the names of the awarded artists. This year, 440 works were sent from Latvia to the Czechia, of which 38 authors were awarded, eight of them received the highest prize of the competition, the medal "Lidice Rose". The rest received Honorable Mentions.

A hundred years ago, the Czech writer Karel Čapek first used the word „robot“ in his play R.U.R. When looking for a term to call the artificial workers, he asked his brother, the painter Josef Čapek, for advice. "Then call them Robots," Josef Čapek muttered through his paintbrush. And so, from the Slavic word for forced labour – robota – came a word the whole world knows. Today, various devices, robots, have taken up residence on our desks and in our pockets. Over the last hundred years, they have taken on various forms, helping us at home, in production, in medicine and, unfortunately, in some ways they might be misleading us. Recommendations on ethical principles for the use of artificial intelligence have become one of the themes of the UNESCO conference in 2021, and it is in response to this call that the theme "Robots and Artificial Intelligence" was proposed for the 49th edition. More than 11,000 children's entries from all over the world were submitted to the Czech competition. This year, 440 works were sent from Latvia to the Czech Republic. 38 Latvian authors were awarded, eight of them received the highest prize of the competition, the medal "Lidice Rose". The others received Honorable Mentions.

Due to the current worsened epidemic situation around the world, this year's award ceremony in Latvia will again take place in virtual form – each of the Latvian awardees will receive a package containing their award or diploma, a personal letter from the Czech Ambassador to Latvia, Mrs Jana Hynková, and a book by a Czech author translated into Latvian. The Embassy has also decided to support this year's winners with an online celebration on its Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/czechembassyinlatvia): from 3rd November, a video presentation with the works of all the winners of this year's competition from Latvia will be displayed there.

The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Latvia thanks all the partners involved in the organization of this exhibition in Latvia and wishes all the participants good health and success in their future artistic activities!

MDVV Lidice (https://www.mdvv-lidice.cz/) is an exhibition – competition for children from 4 to 16 years of age for all types of schools and organizations that work with children – kindergartens, primary schools, elementary art schools, special schools, leisure centres for children and youth, children's homes, multi-year grammar schools and other secondary schools. Individuals can also participate. An expert jury, consisting of art teachers and artists, selects approximately 1,400 works for the exposition, and the awarded works are given an Honorable Mention and the best works are awarded the Lidice Rose Medal.