Visa Olympics of the Imagination

In the past, the Olympic Games were as much about art as athleticism, with painters, sculptors, poets and musicians competing for medals alongside sportsmen. Visa’s Olympics of the Imagination children’s art contest continues this tradition by inviting youngsters from around the world to unite in friendly competition — with the chance of winning a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Olympic Games.

The competition, which was introduced for the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympic Games in Norway, is open to children aged nine to 13, who are asked to create an original picture based on an Olympic theme. Since its inception, nearly a million youngsters have taken part and 233 of them, from 44 countries, have attended the Olympic Games as Visa’s guests — in Lillehammer, Atlanta, Nagano, Sydney, Salt Lake City and Athens.

Olympics of the Imagination art contests are organised in partnership with Visa’s member financial institutions in participating markets. In the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) region, young artists from Croatia, Romania, Russia and Ukraine have been creating paintings or drawings of their favourite sport in the hope of being picked to go to the Torino 2006 Winter Olympic Games.

The CEMEA winners will be joined at the event by their counterparts from Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, Switzerland and the UK, one of whom will be chosen to receive the overall prize of a trip to Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Entries have now closed for the current Visa Olympics of the Imagination contest. For more information about the competition and details of past winners, please go to www.visa.com/visakids.