Elena Karantagli (Greece, 1996) is one of the eight winners of Pathways to a Culture of Peace: Global Contest for Mutual Understanding. On the occasion of the conference on Youth Volunteering and Dialogue, held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 3-5 December 2013, she was awarded in the “Video-clip” category for her artistic piece “The Seeds of Peace”.

 “From my perspective, a culture of peace is a culture where the universal and eternal value of peace is the “seed”, and every moral, custom, value and ideal included in it cultivates and promotes Peace. Every “product” of a culture of peace grows on the branches of peace” (Elena).

The contest was launched on 21 September 2012, the International Day of Peace, to invite youth to express through an artistic demonstration how they practice everyday peace and its related values. More than 1300 young people, aged between 14 and 25 years old, from 55 countries participated in this successful contest.