Second Art Competition: Vision Zero Plastic Held in Bad Godesberg

Bonn, September 26 (sf/OurVoice): “Is it 100 garbage truckloads?” asked a 10-year-old participant in the painting competition. “No, it must be more. Maybe even 1000 garbage truckloads?” replied another participant. “Is it 2000 garbage truckloads?” a third child finally asked. And with that, the children hit the nail on the head: According to the United Nations Environment Program, 2000 truckloads of plastic waste are dumped into our seas, lakes, and rivers every day. 

This year, the Vision Zero Plastic 2026 Art competition was once again organized by the Seraji Foundation e.V. and the German Association for Bangladesh (DAfB e.V.). On the last Saturday afternoon of September 2026, children aged 6 to 14 gathered to unleash their creativity. They drew and colored their ideas, bringing vibrant colors and shapes to life on paper, each unique, but all with one goal: their vision for a world of tomorrow. A world without plastic pollution. A world that protects people, animals, plants, and the environment.

In just less than two hours, the children brought beautiful works to life, depicting various problems with plastic pollution, a world without plastic, the urgency of the problem, and possible solutions. The jury, consisting of Frank Schmitz from Bad Godesberg Zentrenmanagement, Maruf Ahmed, a well-known international artist, and Harun-ur-Rashid, an advisor and promoter of the initiative, found it anything but easy to select six winners from these artworks. The awards went to: Group A (6–10 years): 1st place: Sabika Haque Subha, 2nd place: Joyee Afra Chowdhury, 3rd place: Aalia Islam; and Group B (11–14 years): 1st place: Zaynab Bint Mukta, 2nd place: Rashiqa Rameen, and 3rd place: Sameel Howladar.

The jury together with the special guests Juboraj Talukder, member of the Bonn City Council for Equal Opportunities and Integration, and Ali Khandakar, advisory board member of the Seraji Foundation, handed over the beautiful potted plants and flowers were presented to the winners, and certificates to all participating children. This gave the children another opportunity to take nature and the environment with them and to build a connection to our world. 

"With this event, we wanted to walk a part of the way with the children on their journey to making our world plastic-free one day. And with the beautiful paintings on display, amazed parents and guests, and a pleasant atmosphere, we were able to come a good deal closer to our goal this Saturday afternoon,” said moderator Fatama Jabin, Vice President of the DAfB e.V. association.

Greetings were offered by Shamsul Arefin, President of the DAfB e.V., Riazul Islam, President of the Seraji Foundation (SF) e.V. and Editor-in-Chief of Die Grenze magazine, Saiful Hyder, General Secretary, Dr. Abdul Hai, member of the advisory board, and Md. Khurshid Hasan, Treasurer; Tanvir Hossain and Emtazul Haque, members of the SF executive committee.

A heartfelt thank you to all the children, parents, the jury, and our cooperation partners: Bad Godesberg Center Management, Kultur verbindet e.V., Bonner Netzwerk für Entwicklung, and the German Association for Bangladesh (DAfB e.V.). Media partners were Our Voice Online and the magazine Die Grenze. The project is financially supported within the framework of the "Sustainable City Centers and Community Centres" program of Bonn-Bad Godesberg discretionary fund.