Larkin Zahra, one of four young Europeans who will form part of an official EU delegation attending the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony this coming Monday, the 10th of December, today paid a courtesy visit to President George Abela at San Anton Palace.
The 23-year-old Maltese won a public vote on Facebook in the EU’s Nobel Peace Prize contest. He was one of 5,397 young Europeans who participated in the contest, and his entry was one of the 16 that were shortlisted for the Facebook vote. He won 8,094 votes, while Italian contestant Alberto came a close second, with 7,966 votes.
Larkin’s entry reads: “My grandparents would have said ‘a dream’. My parents would have said ‘a process’. I say that it’s my everyday reality!”
Congratulating Larkin, the President said he was struck by the entry, in which three generations are mentioned. “It represents the development of the European Union, and this year happens to be the European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations.”
The President, together with President Emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, will be discussing the meaning and relevance of the Nobel Peace Prize having been awarded to the EU during an event at Europe House in St Paul’s Street, Valletta, on Monday, the 10th of December. The event will be hosted by the European Commission Representation in Malta and the European Parliament Information Office in Malta.
President Abela announced that his Office has commissioned artist John Martin Borg to create a work of art illustrating Larkin’s winning entry. The painting will be presented during the Nobel peace Prize event at Europe House and permanently displayed inside the building.
It was last month that the Nobel Prize Committee awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union for its contribution to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe for more than six decades. The European Commission formally accepted the Nobel Prize money on behalf of the EU and indicated that it intends to allocate the prize money, about €930,000, to children affected by war and conflicts across the world.
As a result, the EU, in partnership with the European Youth Forum, launched a drawing and writing contest for 8- to 24-year olds. “Peace, Europe, Future: What does Peace in Europe mean to you?” was the question that was put to children and young people from the EU and acceding or candidate countries. Children aged eight to 12 were asked to express their answer in a drawing, and young people aged 13 to 24 in a short text of maximum 120 characters, in any of the 23 EU official languages.
His was one of 5,397 entries: 1,173 drawings in group 8-12, 1,870 texts in group 13-17 and 2,354 texts in group 18-24.
Larkin, together with the three other winners (who were selected by a jury), will attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo on 10 December and the Nobel Peace Prize concert on 11 December. Together with the nine runners-up of the Facebook contest, the four winners will also be invited to Strasbourg for a special event around the Nobel Prize on 12 December.