The City of Varennes-Vauzelles hosted the award ceremony for the Mayors for Peace Children’s Art Competition “Peaceful Towns” 2025, along with the inauguration of the “Wall of Peace.”

Report by Mr. Florian Guillon, the City of Varennes-Vauzelles

Following the incredible news that our 10-year-old daughter, Émilie, a student at the Varennes Bourg school, received an award from the Secretary General of Mayors For Peace in the “Peaceful Towns Art Challenge 2025” international drawing competition in Varennes-Vauzelles just before the holiday season, the town held a ceremony in her honor on Friday, January 16th.

This important event for our town also served to inaugurate, with her and members of the youth council, the “Wall of Peace” in the town hall, directly opposite the mayor’s office. This wall is a symbol of peace, a way to thank every child, every partner, and all the municipal employees who have contributed to the success of all the peace initiatives in Varennes-Vauzelles since 2023 and our renewed commitment to Mayors For Peace (7 initiatives planned for 2025).

50 people, including Emilie’s family and friends, children who participated in our peace initiatives, partners and municipal agents, came to this ceremony in the council chamber of the town of Varennes-Vauzelles.

We presented the diploma received from the Mayors For Peace secretariat and the gifts offered by the municipality and the Varennes-Vauzelles memory association. Then, Émilie, the mayor, the children who participated in our activities, and the elected members of the youth council cut the ribbon to inaugurate the Wall of Peace, which commemorates all the actions our town has taken to defend this essential value in these troubled times.