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Rio+20 Global Youth Music Contest is a global competition for young people in the context of the forthcoming Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The contest has been launched on the 15th September after an International Preparatory Workshop that and an international conference on ‘“Knowledge, Youth and Global Commons” in the city of Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, in Austria. A group of thirty two (32) international youth representatives coming from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, China, Croatia, Holland, India, Macedonia, Mexico, Montenegro, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Serbia, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States and Vanuatu came together for an intensive week to develop materials and strategy of implementation of the contest around the world with their organizations and networks. They were supported by a team of six (6) international facilitators. Participants also signed a Group Statement to be handed over to the UN Secretary-general, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon and the Secretary-general of the Rio+20 United Nations Conference for Sustainable Development, Mr. SHA Zukang.
The contest is organized by the International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges (IAAI), based in Klagenfurt, with a wide number of partners and youth networks from all over the world. Jean Paul Brice Affana, who is a One Young World Ambassador from Cameroon, is the Coordinator of the contest and is working with a worldwide team of Regional and National Coordinators. The initiative aims to inspire, engage and mobilize young people to support sustainable development through music as a universal language that facilitate dialogue, bring global people together and strengthen effective global governance as well as the work of the United Nations system. Youth are encouraged to express their hopes, concerns and thoughts on future of our earth through the universal language of music as a powerful expression that incites commitment for sustainable development. Musical messages will be collected from global youth exploring solutions for sustainable development challenges faced by present and future generations and the winners will be rewarded a trip to Rio de Janeiro to participate in the Rio+20 UN Conference in June 2012 and make the voices of global youth heard through their music. Winners will meet with the United Nations Secretary-general H.E Ban Ki-Moon and get mentoring in their work from United Nations Goodwill Ambassadors. They will also receive broad media promotion worldwide.
The contest is open to children and students from school classes aged up to 14 years and youth aged from 15 to 30 years. Participants should care about their contribution to achieve a sustainable world and their role to energize the work of the United Nations. They can be from all nationalities, regions, sex, background and religions of the world. They are encouraged to submit their music video online through a submission form accessible by mid-November at: http://www.glocha.info/index.php/riogymcresources. The deadline to submit music video is 15 February 2012 at midnight GMT and ssubmissions received after this date will not be considered.
Winners will be selected through a fair, transparent and open process. Three National Finalists in each category from each participating country. There will be three (3) Winners in each category: children and youth and they will all attend an award ceremony which is planned to take place in July 2012 in Austria. The first place Winner of each category will participate in the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and will perform during a Rio+20 Global Youth Music Concert. All expenses related to travels, accommodation and visa will be covered by IAAI.