Creative imagination earns international recognition
Four students from the after-school academy at Suncheon Youth Training Center swept the top prizes at the 2026 Ningbo International Friendly City Children's Drawing Competition in Ningbo, China, taking first, second and two third-place honors.
Ningbo organized the competition as an international cultural exchange event under its sister-city agreement with Suncheon. This year's theme was "the home of the future," encompassing environment, community and cultural technology.
A total of 505 participants — 333 in the children's division and 172 in the youth division — from 20 cities across 18 countries took part. The Suncheon Youth Training Center after-school academy submitted 34 entries.
The first-place work, "A House Built with Future Energy," was created by a fourth-grade student surnamed Myeong at Yongdang Elementary School. The piece depicts a home capable of sustaining life on Earth, in space or on any planet using only natural energy sources such as air and soil. Judges recognized it for its imaginative, creative vision of future society.
A fifth-grade student surnamed Jeong at Seongdong Elementary School took second place with "a flying house of the future." Two third-place awards went to a student surnamed Park, a fourth-grader at Bonghwa Elementary School, for "A House Above the Clouds," and to a sixth-grade student surnamed Choi at Suncheon Buk Elementary School for "Spaceship Snow Globe."
An official from Suncheon's lifelong education division said the students' works would introduce the region's youth to participants and residents from around the world, and serve as an opportunity to broaden cultural exchange between international sister cities.
The winners will receive certificates and commemorative gifts, and their works will be displayed at the Ningbo Children's Library in China.
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