In My Homeland: Members Of The Jury And Observers Reviewed The Works Of The Art Contest
For many years in early February, the GCB educational center is filled with vivid images created by young artists. This year, children's creativity blossomed into the winter whiteness on February 1-4, 2026 during the work of the jury of the 21st International Painting and Graphics Contest "In My Homeland".
As usual, professional artists, teachers and art historians from Belarus and Russia became members of the jury. Representatives of China also joined the observers this year.
The artists and teachers began the difficult work of selecting the best drawings with a preliminary review on February 1. Out of more than 6,770 children's drawings sent from 24 countries, including Belarus, Bulgaria, India, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, China, Turkey, it was necessary to choose "gems", which subsequently received Diplomas of I, II, and III degrees.
In four days, 15 members of the jury reviewed the works at least 5 times. For the first time, during the pre-selection, then potentially award-winning works were selected in each age category (two years each). At this stage, separate groups of juries reviewed what was not included in the selection and could include the "discarded" works in the final vote. After that, all the selected works were laid out in a common "carpet", from which each member of the jury chose what, in his opinion, was worthy of a diploma. During the final review, Diplomas of various degrees were awarded to the works by a majority of votes.
It should be marked that the review was conducted in the thematic categories - "My relative and his favorite profession", "The world of insects around us", "In My Homeland". In the last one, painting and graphics were reviewed separately.
The result of the jury's work could be seen and discussed as early as February 5 in the sport hall in Smolevichi. The results of the contest will be available to the general public in the spring of 2026: the lists of winners and works awarded with Diplomas of I and II degrees will be published on the official website of the In My Homeland project and in project section on the GCB website in April 2026. The winners will be awarded at the opening of the final exhibition.
This year, the observers continued their work on the selection of the "golden methodological fund" of the International project "In My Homeland". As a result, 70 works from among the winners of the 2013 and 2014 contests were included in the Golden Fund.
In addition, the observers were asked to create their own mini-exhibitions from among the works not included in the number of diploma holders. The exhibitions with the observers' comments could be seen on February 5 in the sport hall in Smolevichi. Videos from the viewing will be posted on GCB Youtube-channel, on GCB page in VKontakte and in Video section of the GCB website.