We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 International Essay Contest for Young People.

From among 33,632 entries from 166 countries, the following winners were selected. We take this opportunity to thank all of you who participated in the contest!

First prize winners received the Minister of Education Award and present their essays in the Goi Peace Foundation Forum 2020 “Creating a Better World for Future Generations” to be held online on November 21, 2020.

Certificates and gifts for other prizes were mailed to the winners in December 2020.

Guidelines for the 2021 International Essay Contest for Young People will be announced on this website and through the Goi Peace Foundation’s mailing list and Facebook page on March 15, 2021.

List of Winners

(All ages are as of June 15, 2020.)

1st Prize

Children's category (1 entrant)

• Your future begins today
  Dudley Cojitha Senanayake (Age 12, Sri Lanka)

Youth category (1 entrant)

• Boomerang of Hope
  Marta Andriivna Chernychka (Age 18, Ukraine)

2nd Prize

Children's category (2 entrants)

• Wiser Guider Future
  Praise Mmesomachukwu Chukwumereze (Age 12, Nigeria)
• Lopsided Scale
  Ryoka Tanoi (Age 13, Japan)

Youth category (2 entrants)

• As we saw in the movies
  Júlia Peixoto Fernandes (Age 17, Brazil)
• A Melting Pot of Gems
  Yuka Sone (Age 17, Japan)

3rd Prize

Children's category (5 entrants)

• A letter from myself in 2030
  Talise Chan Luo Yi (Age 9, Singapore)
• A Diamond In The Rough
  Daniela Odong Asianut (Age 13, Uganda)
• Piece by Piece
  Julianne Francesca Berse (Age 13, Philippines)
• To Myself in 2020: Don’t Give Up
  Satoru Ozaki (Age 13, Japan)
• To my past self
  Kaeno Shimizu (Age 15, Japan)

Youth category (5 entrants)

• Technology and Ecology: An Egalitarian’s View
  Aadya Kapoor (Age 15, India)
• The World on RICE!
  Asumi Shimada (Age 17, Japan)
• Back To Nature
  Zhou Xiangfei (Age 19, China)
• Ne te suicide pas
  Mpihary Mahefa Razafindrabezandrina (Age 20, Madagascar)
• The Ripple Effect
  Krisha King Lim (Age 23, Philippines)

Honorable Mention

Children's category (25 entrants)

• Aarvi Malik (Age 9, India)
• Aravind Anandaraj (Age 11, Malaysia)
• Elise Y Chen (Age 11, U.S.A.)
• Eneha Marinova (Age 11, Bulgaria)
• Keiichi Kondo (Age 11, Japan)
• Akiko Takamoto (Age 12, Japan)
• Angela Matilde Quintero Gonzalez (Age 12, Colombia)
• Kosei Yamamoto (Age 12, Japan)
• Mohamed Taha Samaoual (Ag 12, Morocco)
• Alex Hayoung Jung (Age 13, South Korea)
• Isha Singh (Age 13, India)
• Opara Chioma Stella (Age 13, Nigeria)
• Riko Miyamoto (Age 13, Japan)
• Shashank Kumar (Age 13, U.S.A. <Living in India>)
• Tayyaba Noor (Age 13, Pakistan <Living in U.A.E.>)
• Ayano Oda (Age 14, Japan)
• Cristiana Gălățeanu (Age 14, Romania)
• Gen Furuya (Age 14, Japan)
• M. Naeem Haseef Bin Mohd Nasir (Age 14, Malaysia)
• Pratibha Srivatsan (Age 14, India)
• Takeru Tanaka (Age 14, Japan)
• Yuna Nonaka (Age 14, Japan <Living in Myanmar>)
• Mei Noguchi (Age 15, Japan)
• Tomotaro Suyama (Age 15, Japan)
• Una Muto (Age 15, Japan)

Youth category (25 entrants)

• Mahlet Bizuneh Bekele (Age 15, Ethiopia)
• Miku Nakayama (Age 15, Japan)
• Anna Raquel Klinger (Age 16, U.S.A.)
• Gina Yum (Age 16, U.S.A.)
• Marco Erano Almarinez Dumale (Age 16, Philippines)
• Mizuki Kage (16, Japan)
• Tianyue Ruby Sun (Age 16, Finland <Living in Canada>)
• Urtė Gedvilaitė (Age 16, Lithuania)
• Natsuki Ito (Age 17, Japan)
• Jeevika Wadhwa (Age 18, India)
• Bashangezi Prince Bishogo (Age 19, Democratic Republic of Congo <Living in Zimbabwe>)
• Diana Jugendliche (Age 19, Belarus)
• Sarah Irdina Binti Sallehhuddin (Age 19, Malaysia)
• Aman Majmudar (Age 20, Canada <Living in Japan>)
• Paula Ventura Barroso (Age 20, Spain)
• Soichiro Hirata (Age 20, Japan)
• Diego Iram Rodríguez González (Age 21, México)
• Ghizlane Elguil (Age 21, Morocco)
• Folajomi Isa Ayomide (Age 22, Nigeria)
• Jeanie Zeng (Age 22, U.S.A.)
• Nant Aye Pwint (Age 22, Myanmar)
• Antonio Ferrara (Age 23, Italy)
• Jenna Hole (Age 23, U.K. <Living in Turkey>)
• Dave Tampus Pregoner (Age 24, Philippines)
• Purva Aggarwal (Age 24, India <Living in U.K.>)

Best School Award (2 schools)

• Koka Gakuen Junior and Senior High School for Girls, Tokyo (Japan)
• Setagaya Junior High School attached to Tokyo Gakugei University (Japan)

School Incentive Award (59 schools)

• Akili Dada, Nairobi (Kenya)
• Assumption Academy, Osaka (Japan)
• Brest Gymnasium No 1 (Belarus)
• Bunka Gakuen Nagano Junior High School & High School (Japan)
• Çağdaş Bilim Anadolu Ve Fen Lisesi, Marmaris (Turkey)
• Centro de Bachillerato Tecnologico, Industrial y de Servicios No. 234, Tamaulipas (México)
• Chicago Futabakai Japanese School-Saturday School, Illinois (U.S.A.)
• Chitoku High School, Shizuoka (Japan)
• Colegio Mundo de Alegria, Shizuoka (Japan)
• Escuela Preparatoria No. 8, Universidad de Guadalajara (México)
• Fuji Sacred Heart School, Shizuoka (Japan)
• Fukuoka Prefectural Ogori High School (Japan)
• Ghiyasuddin International School, Male' (Maldives)
• Gymnasium #12, Minsk (Belarus)
• Honjo Higashi Junior & Senior High School, Saitama (Japan)
• Ikeda Junior High School attached to Osaka Kyoiku University (Japan)
• Inagi 6th Junior High School of Inagi City, Tokyo (Japan)
• Independent Secondary School, Victoria (Seychelles)
• International School of Milan (Italy)
• Japanese Supplementary School of Middle Tennessee (U.S.A.)
• Jonan Gakuen Junior High School, Senior High School, Osaka (Japan)
• Joso Gakuin Junior High School, Ibaraki (Japan)
• Kagoshima Gyokuryu High School of Kagoshima City (Japan)
• Kyoto Gakuen Junior and Senior Highschool (Japan)
• Liceul Mathias Hammer in Anina, Caras-Severin County (Romania)
• Matsumoto Shuho Secondary School, Nagano (Japan)
• Midori Elementary School of Itabashi City, Tokyo (Japan)
• Mukogawa Women's University Junior & Senior High School, Hyogo (Japan)
• Nagano Prefectural Nakano Nishi High School (Japan)
• Nagoya Sangyo University (Japan)
• Nihon Fukushi University Affiliated High School, Aichi (Japan)
• Niigata Seiryo High School (Japan)
• Nobeoka Technical High School, Miyazaki (Japan)
• Okayama Prefectural Yakage High School (Japan)
• Okkawa Junior High School of Handa City, Aichi (Japan)
• Otsuma Ranzan Junior and Senior High School, Saitama (Japan)
• Philippine Science High School-Central Luzon Campus, Pampanga (Philippines)
• Preparatoria 23 de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (México)
• Preparatoria Regional de El Salto / SEMS / Universidad de Guadalajara (México)
• Primary school Mahala, Una-Sana Cantton (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• Rangpur Cadet College (Bangladesh)
• Rikkyo School in England, West Sussex (U.K.)
• Rosary Sister School/Marj Elhamam, Amman (Jordan)
• Satriwithaya School, Bangkok (Thailand)
• Showa Women's University Junior-Senior High School, Tokyo (Japan)
• SISA - School of International Studies in Sciences & Arts, Punjab (Pakistan)
• SJKC Kong Min Cawangan Kedua, Penang (Malaysia)
• SMJK Chio Min, Kedah (Malaysia)
• SMJK Keat Hwa, Kedah (Malaysia)
• St. Agnes' Junior & Senior High School, Kyoto (Japan)
• Sydney Saturday School of Japanese, New South Wales (Australia)
• Taisho Elementary School of Omuta City, Fukuoka (Japan)
• Teacher Su Centre, Nay Pyi Daw (Myanmar)
• The Lao-American College, Vientiane (Laos)
• Tokyo Metropolitan Koishikawa Middle School (Japan)
• VII Kopernik High School, Slaskie (Poland)
• Yachiyoshoin Gakuen, Chiba (Japan)
• Yamanouchi Junior High School of Yamanouchi Town, Nagano (Japan)
• Zhodino Secondary School 6 (Belarus)

Essay Contest 2020 Flyer (PDF)

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Past Winning Essays