The first-ever international Eco Picture Diary contest among Azerbaijani schoolchildren has been presented at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku on November 1.

The national stage of the contest, which will be held in the capital Baku and Ganja, Azerbaijan's second largest city, on November 1-15, is organized by IDEA (International Dialogue for Environmental Action), under the auspices of UNESCO and with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Center and Panasonic Marketing CIS (PMCIS).

The presentation of the contest has been joined by 314 secondary schools in Baku, while the ceremony in Ganja on November 2 will be attended by 49 schools.

Eco Picture Diary 2013 aims to promote ecological culture amongst the new generation and care for the flora and fauna. The project also serves to formulating an active civil stance on environmental and healthcare protection. Schoolchildren aged 6-11 and 12-15 can participate in the contest. Participants are required to reflect a picture and briefly describe the idea behind it in their Eco Diary, which is prepared especially for the contest.
The Eco Diaries to be distributed through the teachers from November 1 should be submitted by November 15.

The diaries will be evaluated by a panel of judges composed of representatives of IDEA, Heydar Aliyev Center, Education Ministry, Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry, UNESCO, PMCIS, the media and NGOs. The judges will select one nationwide winner out of 20 finalists.
The winner will be announced on December 1.

The top six finalists from all participating countries will attend the ceremony of announcing the results of the contest in Paris in December. More detailed information about the contest is available at the IDEA website.

The Eco Picture Diary contest has been held since 2008. A total of 300,000 schoolchildren from 51 countries participated in the contest last year. The project is implemented in Azerbaijan for the first time by IDEA campaign.

IDEA has been promoting innovative approaches to the solution of environmental problems since its inception on July 12, 2011 by Vice President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva.