Ukrainian pupils won 51 awards in GENIUS Olympiad 2022

On June 18, 2022, the award ceremony of the International Environmental Projects Competition GENIUS Olympiad 2022 took place. It was held in New York, USA. This year the competition was attended by about 1,500 students from more than 70 countries.

Despite the full-scale war, the students successfully presented Ukraine in the international arena and won five gold, eight silver, fourteen bronze, and twenty-three honorary medals. Polina Kozlova from the Kherson region, for the first time in Ukrainian history, received the highest award in the category "Creative Writing":

"I am honored to represent our country at the world level. Participation in the competition was a real test. During the first three months of the war, I was in occupied Kherson. During the project submission to the international stage, our communication was cut off. I prepared all the materials on my phone and went to send them to the Nova Poshta building because they had an Internet connection. Sometimes I had to wait an hour to send a message.

I still can't believe that I have come such a long way. I would like to congratulate all Ukrainian participants of the GENIUS Olympiad, as well as thank my supervisor, family, friends, and everyone who supported me on this path. Everything will be fine. Everything will be Ukraine!"

General geography of awards:

• 10 – the city of Kyiv;
• 9 – Sumy region;
• 5 – Kherson region;
• 4 – Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk regions;
• 3 – Khmelnytsky, Kharkiv, Poltava regions;
• 2 each – Ternopil, Lviv, and Volyn regions;
• 1 each – Chernivtsi, Cherkasy, Mykolaiv and Donetsk (Mariupol) regions.

In 2022, the JAS became the official representative of the GENIUS Olympiad in Ukraine and the only institution with the right to organize the national selection, Genius Olympiad Ukraine. Winners can receive an eco-ticket, which entitles them to participate in the finals of the international competition, which is held annually in the United States.

In addition, for the first time in the history of the GENIUS Olympiad, a representative of Ukraine, Evhen Kudryavets, JAS Deputy Director for Strategic Project Management and International Relations, was a member of the jury.

"It is especially touching that children from the temporarily occupied territories and areas where active hostilities continue are among the winners. And also those who are now far from home. All of them were able to represent our country with dignity.

Holding the national stage was an unprecedented increase in opportunities for Ukraine in this competition. Imagine, for the ten years of participation in the Olympics, our country won 74 awards. In 2022, according to the results of the national selection, in the war conditions and online finalization of projects, with many difficulties, the Ukrainian team won 51 awards in just one year!"

GENIUS Olympiad is held annually in the United States. The competition is open to works by 8-11 grade students in art, creative writing, music, short film, science, robotics, and business. GENIUS Olympiad was founded by Terra Science and Education in partnership with the Rochester Institute of Technology (USA).