Leyla Aliyeva and Alyona Aliyeva participated in the final award ceremony

With the organization of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Science and Education, and the Heydar Aliyev Center, another Children's Art Festival has concluded. On December 26, the final awards ceremony for the festival winners was held at the Heydar Aliyev Center.

As reported by AZERTAG, Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva and Alyona Aliyeva attended the ceremony.

First, information about the festival was presented. It was noted that the purpose of the festival, held since 2023 on the initiative of the Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva, is to instill national and moral values in the younger generation, preserve and continue traditional art forms, and educate youth who are devoted to their state and homeland. The project is also an integral part of the activities of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation under the leadership of the First Vice President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva to support culture and young talents.

The Children's Art Festival is not just a competition, but also a broad creative platform aimed at developing children, contributing to the formation of their teamwork skills, stage culture, creative approach, and self-expression. This platform has taken the Children's Art Festival beyond the competition format, turning it into a cultural mechanism that contributes to the formation of a talent pool across the country. Thus, the festival, which brings together children aged 6 to 17 from all regions of Azerbaijan, has created wide opportunities for creative exchange in both professional and amateur categories during the past period.

The indicator - more than 27 thousand applications submitted to the current festival, which started in March 2025, once again confirms the scale of the project and the growing interest of children in art.

Based on the results of the selection stages, winners were determined in 19 individual and 5 collective nominations. Thus, the total number of festival winners was 512 people.

Speaking at the event, Minister of Culture Adil Karimli noted that one of the main directions of cultural policy carried out under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev is state support for identifying young personnel and talented youth. According to the minister, under the leadership of the First Vice President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation implements a large number of projects aimed at identifying young talents, supporting their education, and at the same time contributing to their personal development.

"During these years, many of our young talented people have been involved in education programs abroad on the initiative and with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and personally Mehriban Aliyeva, and various steps have been taken towards their personal growth. The Children's Art Festival is held on the initiative and idea of the Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva. One of the goals was to create a mechanism for identifying children and youth with creative thinking throughout the country, who have special natural gifts, revealing them, and conducting individual work with them for development. It was on the basis of this idea that this project was implemented. The Children's Art Festival, held for the second time and being a very important project in terms of its content and idea, is not just an event. Children and youth from 86 cities and regions of the country, including the districts of the capital, applied for the festival. Winners in 24 nominations were determined based on a three-stage selection process. This is