2012 Exhibition of the International Children's Painting Competition on the Environment Opens in Washington, D.C., on World Environment Day

Thirteen-year-old California Student Announced as Global Winner  

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In celebration of World Environment Day 2012, the North American exhibition of the 21st annual International Children's Painting Competition (ICPC) on the Environment was unveiled today in Washington, D.C. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library by United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for North America (UNEP RONA) and Bayer Corporation officials. Washington is the 2012 host city for World Environment Day (WED) celebrations in North America.

The exhibition features 58 paintings created by children from the United States and Canada that vividly and thoughtfully portray the children's solutions to green living environmental issues. It will be on display through July 31, 2012, at the central library of Washington's district-wide library system.

Diana Fan of Pleasanton, California, was announced as the competition's global winner at the evening reception on June 4, 2012. This is the first time in seven years that a student from the United States has taken home the top prize. Thirteen-year-old Fan's painting was selected from over 13,000 submissions from 81 countries.

Two local winners from Washington, D.C. were also announced as this year's "Washington's Best."  Six-year-old Laine Holman and eight-year-old Luka Boadle, both students at Oyster Adams Bilingual School, took the top local honors for depicting their strategies for "greening" their community.

Holman and Boadle received their awards, along with North American first-place winner 13-year-old Michelle Lai of Toronto and second-place winner 11-year-old Vellia Zhou of New York City. The winners were joined by Dr. Mae C. Jemison – astronaut, environmental studies professor and Bayer's longtime national spokesperson for its Making Science Make Sense® program – as well as representatives from UNEP RONA, Bayer, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library and Washington's WED host committee.

"Once again, Bayer is immensely proud and honored to partner with UNEP to help sponsor World Environment Day and the fifth annual North American ICPC painting competition," said Rebecca Lucore, Executive Director, Bayer USA Foundation and Head, CSR for Bayer Corporation. "Bayer recognizes that no one is ever too old or too young to embrace their responsibility and take actions to protect our environment, and that is why we are so strongly committed to our partnership with UNEP that brings unique environmental education opportunities to today's young people."

To view the children's winning artworks and the other artworks that are part of the exhibition, please visit facebook.com/BayersMSMS.

"UNEP is proud to be working with Bayer to ensure that the next generation of leaders are engaged in the global discussions on the environment, especially since youth are our strongest hope for change, and it is their future," said Amy Fraenkel, director of UNEP RONA. "We are grateful for Bayer's strong commitment and support of the children's painting competition and World Environment Day."

The ICPC is a signature event of UNEP's World Environment Day celebrations held annually on June 5 since 1972. It invites elementary and middle school students worldwide, ages six to 14, to learn more about the environment and express that knowledge creatively through art. Regional winners from UNEP's six global regions of Africa; Asia and the Pacific; West Asia; North America; Latin America and the Caribbean; and Europe are announced on Earth Day in April.

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About Bayer Corporation and Making Science Make Sense®
Bayer Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is a subsidiary of Bayer AG, an international health care, nutrition and high-tech materials group based in Leverkusen, Germany. As an inventor company, it sets trends in research-intensive areas. The company's products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. The Corporation is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its role as a socially and ethically responsible corporate citizen. Economy, ecology and social responsibility are corporate policy objectives of equal rank. In North America, Bayer had 2011 net sales of EUR 8,177 million ($11,366 million) and employed 15,800 at year-end. For more information, go to www.bayerus.com.

Making Science Make Sense® (MSMS) is Bayer's company-wide initiative that advances science literacy through hands-on, inquiry-based science education, employee volunteerism and a public education campaign. Currently, 12 Bayer sites around the U.S. operate local MSMS programs, which together represent a national volunteer corps of more than 1,000 employees.

About United Nations Environment Programme and World Environment Day
Established in 1972 following the United Nation's Conference on the Human Environment, UNEP's mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. World Environment Day is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates world-wide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. With thousands of events in the six UNEP regions, World Environment Day is considered the largest environmental event of its kind.

About UNEP Regional Office for North America
The mission of UNEP's Regional Office for North America (RONA), which is located in Washington, D.C. and comprises Canada and the United States, is: to build support in the region for UNEP's work; to promote effective responses to international environmental challenges; and to foster cooperation on environmental issues between North America and the broader international community. To achieve this mission, RONA's strategy is to promote collaboration between UNEP and all sectors of North American society, including U.S. and Canadian governmental institutions, the private sector and civil society groups, and to provide UNEP with North American perspectives. For more information on UNEP RONA, go to: www.unep.org/rona.

About Bayer and UNEP
Bayer AG is the first company in the world to forge a long-term partnership with UNEP in the area of youth and environment. The partners first began cooperating on youth environmental projects in Asia in the late 1990s. In 2004, Bayer and UNEP signed a framework agreement to globalize this partnership. The partners have jointly organized a dozen environmental projects for young people around the world, including the TUNZA International Youth and Children's Conference, regional youth networks, the Bayer Young Environmental Envoy Program, the International Children's Painting Competition, the photo competition Ecology in Focus in Eastern Europe and TUNZA Magazine. In addition, Bayer Corporation in the United States supports UNEP's World Environment Day activities in North America. Further information on the partnership between UNEP and Bayer is available on the Internet at: www.unep.bayer.com.  

Find more information at www.BayerUS.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group or subgroup management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

SOURCE Bayer Corporation

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