The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) invited adolescents and young people between the ages of 10 and 24 from the Americas to participate in the Young Voices 2024 Contest, to gather their opinions on what can be done to improve the quality of health services for young people.
From July 1 through July 31, 2024, more than 100 creative entries were received from 18 countries in the Americas. Participants competed with original works created especially for the competition in eight general creative expressions: song, comic, drawing, illustration, narrative, painting, poem, and video. For the first time, the possibility of competing in any of the general categories but assisted by Artificial Intelligence (AI) was also included.
“Comprehensive health services are very important to help young people build healthy trajectories, for early identification of risk factors and prompt treatment when necessary. Unfortunately, we often hear from young people that their experiences with the health system are not positive. This is why it is so important to hear from them how we can enhance health services to respond to their needs and improve health outcomes,” PAHO’s Regional Advisor on Adolescent Health, Dr. Sonja Caffe, said.
Nine adolescents and young people between the ages of 10 and 24 from the United States, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru will receive cash prizes (between US$250 and US$100), and their original works will be published in PAHO communication channels and/or campaigns related to adolescent mental health.
The jury, composed of a multidisciplinary group of PAHO specialists from different countries, selected nine works as winners, as established in the contest guidelines: three from participants between 10 and 14 years of age; three between 15-19 years of age; and three between 20 and 24 years of age.
The winning works belong to the general categories of drawing, comic, narrative, poem, and video, and AI-assisted illustration. The winning entries were chosen based on criteria such as creativity, requirements of the call for entries, originality, clarity and coherence of content.
