Icelandic designer takes top prize in UN anti-poverty ad contest

A graphic designer from Iceland is the winner of a United Nations advertising contest to boost awareness in Europe of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight globally agreed anti-poverty targets with a 2015 deadline, it was announced today.

Stefán Einarsson, 44, will be bestowed the top award for the UN Ads Against Poverty Competition by Queen Sofia of Spain in Madrid on 10 September and he will receive €5,000.

“I am, of course, delighted that I have won and I sincerely hope that this ad will remind our leaders that they have to keep their promises and achieve the Millennium Development Goals,” he said.

The competition, which kicked off in May, invited all citizens of 48 European countries to submit one-page print entries in the form of drawings, designs, cartoons, photographs or slogans. More than 2,000 entries from 34 countries were submitted for consideration.

Mr. Einarsson’s winning entry was selected by popular vote as well as by a jury of prominent European advertising and marking experts, artists, designers, UN communications officials.

“The level of participation and the quality of the Ads Against Poverty by the European creative community, professionals and amateurs alike, was beyond our wildest expectations,” said Afsané Bassir-Pour, Director of the UN Regional Information Centre in Brussels (UNRIC), which launched the web-based campaign.

She noted that most participants were hoping to send a message ahead of a meeting of world leaders in September in New York to continue pushing for progress on the MDGs.