Twenty-two elementary and middle school students from Japan and other countries were awarded prizes in an essay contest sponsored by the Children of the Earth's Club in July.

The contest, which began in 1991, is aimed at raising children's awareness of environmental problems. Thousands of kids from around the world enter the contest each year; this year there were nearly 4,400 submissions, including 272 from overseas.

There were two winners of the top prize, called the Prince Takamado Award: Eishi Kabashima, a fourth grader attending a public school in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, and Gengo Murase, a seventh-grader at a middle school in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture. Prince and Princess Takamado were on hand to personally present the awards at a ceremony held in Tokyo on July 31. Prince Takamado is the honorary president of the essay contest.

Eishi wrote about the importance of recycling, which his dad taught him, and about what he and his family are doing to cut down on the garbage they throw out. For instance, they bring their own bags to supermarkets and turn their kitchen waste into compost.

Gengo, meanwhile, wrote about the trees in his great grandmother's garden, which grew up together with Gengo and his brothers. He described that humans as well as the trees are the products of the earth and that nature must be protected not just because it's beautiful but because we're an integral part of it.

Kiyonori Kobayashi, who received the Director General of the Environment Agency Award, wrote about recycling and the importance of treating things with care, while Kumi Saito urged everyone to help keep our waters clean.

Special awards were given to 10 contestants from countries outside Japan, including China, India, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), and Thailand. They also attended the ceremony.

The Children of the Earth's Club also sponsored a poster contest for the first time this year. Just like in the essay contest, there were two top winners: Masumi Takahashi, a fourth-grader at an elementary school in Matsudo, and Yuka Makino, an eighth-grader at a middle school in Onjuku, both in Chiba Prefecture. Masumi created a poster to discourage littering, and Yuka called for more effort to keep water clean.

The two received their awards at the same ceremony as the essay winners. Following the ceremony, the winners of both contests took part in the fourth Asian Children's Conference. The conference, which was first held in 1994, is organized by the club to promote understanding of environmental issues in Asia among kids in Japan and other countries.


Photos: (Top) Contest winners pose for a picture with Prince and Princess Takamado; (above) a South Korean participant receives her prize. (Children of the Earth's Club)