About 40 Bangladeshi children and 51 ones from other countries have won prizes in the 5th International Children-Art Biennale Bangladesh-2009 as an awarding ceremony of the painting competition was held in Bangladesh on Sunday.

Grand Prix, the top prize of the biennial painting competition organized by the Bangladesh Shishu (children) Academy, goes to Nattanon Googietgarn, an eight-year-old boy from Thailand.

The other 90 children from different Asian and European countries shared 90 medals of six groups, as all the competitors were divided into groups A-E by age and there are one gold, three silvers and 11 bronze prizes for each group.

Ma Jingwen and Wen Tianyue from Beijing, China won the silver medal and bronze medal respectively in the Group B (aged 6-7 years) in the international painting competition.

Meanwhile, the jury committee have also selected 485 paintings, out of all 16,695 paintings they received from 33 countries, for an exhibition, which began on Sunday and will last till July 5.

Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Dipu Moni who awarded prizes to the children at the ceremony on Sunday said the art competition provided opportunities for children of different culture to share their feelings at one stage which will help them think something new.

She said the Bangladeshi government attached much importance to the development of children and has already taken moves to amend the decades old children law to ensure more rights and welfare of children.

The Bangladesh Shishu Academy under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs since 1998 organized the biennial international painting competition, providing opportunities for children of different countries to project their artwork internationally.

"Bangladeshi children could observe the paintings of competitors from other countries through the competition and exhibition. They could learn and develop themselves," Director of the Bangladesh Shishu Academy Md. Tazul Islam said at the exhibition hall.

"I believe the children could do better in the future," Islam said.

Source: Xinhua