01 April 2015 – Jhaimarr San Miguel, a 19-year old student at the Far Eastern University Institute of Technology, won third place in the international student poster competition "Water is Life 2015" sponsored by the German Sanitation, Heating and Air Conditioning Association (ZVSHK). The awarding ceremonies took place in Berlin on March 23, coinciding with the observance of the UN World Water Day.

Representatives from the Philippine Embassy in Berlin were at the awarding ceremony to show their support. Mr. San Miguel told them it was only his second competition in graphic design and that he was overwhelmed to learn his poster bagged the third prize. “Every drop counts,” according to him, serves as a reminder to people of the importance of water as a resource.

Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Dr. Gerd Müller announced the prize winners. Apart from third-place winner Mr. San Miguel, who represented the Philippines, Jennifer Borja from Columbia and Jialiang Qin from China won first and second place, respectively.

More than 4,800 student artists from 81 countries entered the "Water is Life" competition. Participants were challenged to design a poster that called out for a more responsible approach to water consumption and for raising awareness on the need for access to drinking water as it affects the health of more than 1.8 billion people worldwide.

The ZVSHK’s poster competition was organized under the artistic direction of Professor Heinz-Jürgen Kristahn from the Berlin University of the Arts.  The ZVSHK (Zentralverband Sanitär Heizung Klima) is a German trade organization for sanitation, heating and air conditioning. END