Winners Named in FAI Young Artist Aircraft Contest

Michelle Lee’s winning project in the intermediate category. [Courtesy: FAI]

The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale has announced its winners in the Young Artists Contest. This year’s theme was “Design your perfect aircraft.”

The contestants’ designs were inspired by nature, as they were asked to create something they would like to see in the sky, and had to consider what would power the aircraft, its size, and what special features would make pilots and passengers excited to be in the air.

The international contest is open to children between the ages of 7 and 18. This year’s field featured representatives from China, India, Latvia, the U.S., Japan, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, and Switzerland who each won their respective national competitions. The students compete in three categories depending on their age.

This year's winners include a gold medal win from Japan’s Haruto Hirayama, who also won a gold in 2021. Regular participant Milena Bak from Poland was awarded a bronze medal this year, having taken home bronze and silver medals in previous competitions. Michelle Lee from the U.S. took gold in the intermediate category, whilst another entrant from Japan–Ruka Oji–was awarded gold amongst the senior artists.

Haruto Hirayama won the junior category with this project. [Courtesy: FAI]

2022 FAI Young Artists Contest Winners

Junior Category, Ages 7-11

Competitor	Country
Haruto Hirayama	Japan
Yichen Liu	China
Yitong Hou	China

Intermediate Category, Ages 11-14

Competitor	Country
Michelle Lee	US
Ami Chiba	Japan
Milena Bak	Poland

Ruka Oji's winning project in the senior category [Courtesy: FAI]

Senior Category, Ages 15-18

Competitor	Country
Ruka Oji	Japan
Beatrice Macenaite	Lithuania
Bartosz Bak	Poland

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Meg GodlewskiAuthor

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.