The next Children's Art Festival, organized by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Science and Education, and the Heydar Aliyev Center, has concluded. The final award ceremony of the festival was held at the Heydar Aliyev Center on December 26.

Axar.az reports that the ceremony was attended by the Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Leyla Aliyeva, and Alena Aliyeva.

First, information about the festival was provided. It was noted that the goal of the festival, which has been held since 2023 at the initiative of Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva, is to instill national and spiritual values ​​in the younger generation, preserve and revive traditional art forms, and educate youth devoted to their state and homeland. The project is also part of the activities of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, headed by First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva, in support of culture and young talents.

The Children's Art Festival, acting not only in a competitive format but also as a broad creative platform aimed at the development of children, contributes to the formation of their teamwork, stage culture, creative approach, and self-expression skills. This platform has transformed the Children's Art Festival from a competitive format into a cultural mechanism serving the formation of a talent bank across the country. Thus, the festival, which brings together children aged 6–17 from all regions of Azerbaijan, has created ample opportunities for creative exchange in professional and amateur categories over the past period.

More than 27 thousand participants applied for this year's festival, which started in March 2025, and this indicator once again confirms the large scale of the project and the growing interest of children in art.

Based on the results of the selection stages, winners were determined in 19 individual and 5 collective nominations. Thus, the total number of winners for the festival was 512 people.

Speaking at the event, Minister of Culture Adil Karimli said that one of the main directions of the cultural policy implemented under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev is providing state support to the identification of young personnel and young talents. According to the minister, numerous projects are being implemented by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation under the leadership of First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva to identify young talents, support their education, and, at the same time, support their personal development.

“Over the years, many of our young talents have been involved in educational programs abroad with the initiative and support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Mehriban Aliyeva personally, and various steps have been taken towards their personal development. The Children's Art Festival is held on the initiative and idea of ​​​​Leyla Aliyeva, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. One of the tasks set was to establish a mechanism to identify young talents with creative thinking, children with special innate talents throughout the country, to reveal them, and to carry out personal development work with them. This project was created based on this idea. The Children's Art Festival, which is a very important project in terms of its content and idea and is being held for the second time, is not just an event. Children and young people from a total of 86 cities and regions, including the districts of the capital, applied to the festival. Winners in 24 nominations were determined based on a three-stage selection. This is a comprehensive platform for revealing creative individuals. A personnel bank of young talents is formed here. Based on the created electronic analytical platform, each "We identify what talents there are in the region, which regions are more inclined to various types of art. We know which talents exist in which region. This allows for data-based management in the field of culture in the future, and also creates broad opportunities for the formation of professional staff, identifying them at the initial stage and bringing them to professional education, and then to professional management in the field of culture," the Minister of Culture emphasized.

Then there was an award ceremony for the winners of the festival. Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Leyla Aliyeva, congratulated the winners and wished them success.

Then a concert program was presented by the winners. Within the program, the winners performed duets with famous artists and specially prepared musical and stage compositions, in addition to solo performances.

Ten-year-old Melissa Guliyeva, a member of the Children and Youth Development Center No. 5, who won the festival's painting category, said in an interview with AZERTAC that her work depicting our ancient bazaars was chosen as the winner: "I am very happy to be among the winners. I will continue to work on myself and create more beautiful works."

Twelve-year-old Raul Huseynov, who won first place in academic vocals, performed works by composer Fikrat Amirov, including the song "Güleram, gulsen" from "Güleram, gulsen". He said that his competitors were quite strong, but he had no difficulty in winning. Raul noted that he has been involved in music for three years and took first place for the first time. R. Huseynov plans to continue his activities in this direction in the future and represent Azerbaijan in international arenas.

It should be noted that the Children's Art Festival ensures equal participation of every child based on the principles of inclusion. Children with disabilities also participated and won in the accordion playing, decorative and applied arts, and painting nominations within the framework of the festival. The accessible environment created for children in need of special care allowed them to freely demonstrate their talents. The festival serves to promote equal opportunities and social integration in the field of culture.

It is planned to continue the project with a wider program in the coming years and support the creative path of thousands of children.