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2018 Picture Human Rights Poster Contest Winners

Amnesty International USA, Human Rights Educators USA, and Teaching Tolerance are pleased to announce the national winners in their “Picture Human Rights” poster competition. With the goal of heightening awareness about the UDHR during its 70th anniversary year, the competition encouraged young people to express what human rights in general and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in particular means to them.

The contest received over 175 entries from young people all over the United States from ages 6 to 21.  Thank you to everyone who submitted art and took the time to learn about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights during its 70th anniversary year. 

While we are still working to achieve human rights around the world, it is through the continued education of students like yourself that we may someday be able to end human rights abuses.  

THE WINNERS                    POSTER GALLERY                   MEET THE JUDGES

THE GRAND PRIZE WINNERS

FIRST PLACE (Grades K-4)

EMMA DRUGGE

3rd Grade
Norwalk, CA

Humans Need to Be Free
Mixed media – Acrylic & Marker, 24×30

Humans need to be free. Human rights are important because they protect this freedom. If people don’t have human rights, people can get hurt. They won’t be free to be who they want to be. Like Anne Frank and other Jews who were killed by the Nazis. And like today, the Uyghurs in Xinjiang China are being treated badly. The Chinese government is taking away their human rights. I care about Article 9, the right to be free from arbitrary detention, and all the other human rights, because I want to live in a world that has freedom for everyone.

FIRST PLACE (Grades 5-8)

RILEE RISENDEZ 

8th Grade
Hudson Bend Middle School
Austin, TX

Speak For Peace
Mixed media: Colored pencils, chalk pastel, 13.5×20.5

This piece that I created represents freedom of speech. The ribbon covers the mouth of the person while everything around the person represents who she wants to speak for and what she wants to speak about.

FIRST PLACE (Grades 9-12)

JUDY NAO

12th Grade
Lynn English High School
Lynn, MA

 Hope For A Better Tomorrow
Acrylic Paint, 9×12

My art piece is about a family forced into an immigration camp where they are locked up as prisoners. As the parent is slowly losing hope, their spirit fades to a cool blue but their children’s’ warmth gives them strength to continue the fight for their human rights and their future. It is important to see these family units as people and not as the derogatory labels as illegal aliens.

FIRST PLACE (Ages 19-21)

SUMEYA ALI

Freshman
Simmons College
Boston, MA

Aisha
Acrylic Paint , 16×18

This artwork uses the first article of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is written in the Osmanya Somali transcript, a transcript that is now dead. Using an unrecognizable language compels us to see the historical shifts that has led Somalia into a civil war. Currently, Somalia is seemingly lacking human rights due to war. The title “Aisha” was the name of my grandmother, who spent months fleeing the war to eventually find refuge in America. Aisha passed away in 2016. It is my hope her journey pushes us to ensure a future of universal equality for human rights.

Thank you to our co-sponsors for helping make the 2018 “Picture Human Rights” Poster Contest a success!

We are grateful for the generous support of our members, individual donors, and The Puffin Foundation Ltd
The core values of HRE USA and its partner organizations include transparency and critical thinking skills. We believe that human rights--and human rights education--belong to everyone, and that the full realization of human rights means that access to human rights education materials must never be conditioned upon the subscription to any particular religious faith, ideology, political affiliation, or membership in any particular organization and that any organizational connections should be openly acknowledged.