Twenty years ago, close to 50000 activists met for the Fourth World Conference of Women in Beijing, where almost 200 Governments established 12 areas of critical concern regarding women's rights --- the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Considered one of the most progressive declarations for women's rights at the time, the 1995 Beijing Declaration still remains... well, an aspirational goal rather than something we all just got on with and achieved.

This week, in line with the twentieth anniversary of the Declaration, UN Women and the European Commission have joined forces to hold a cartoon/comic competition around the theme of gender equality. Called 'Gender Equality: Picture It!', the competition invites artists from across the EU --- and across the EU only, with apologies to everybody else --- to submit comics and cartoons inspired by the Beijing Declaration. Entrants must be aged between 18-28, and no text is allowed within the final piece.

Five finalists will be chosen from the entrants, who will all be invited to Brussels for an awards ceremony at which the winner will receive 1000 Euros in prize money. All the contestants will also be included in a possible future exhibition of their work, and will also have the warm glow of knowing their work has been seen around the world for the very best of reasons.

In fact, I don't see any reason why anybody should feel left out simply because they aren't eligible for the competition --- it would be brilliant to see people making artwork in support of this cause simply because it's a cause worth supporting.

The rules are all listed here, and the final deadline is April 20 2015.

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