Anaheim : Girl Wins Children’s Peace Prize for Song

A 10-year-old New Jersey girl was awarded the 1986 International Children’s Peace Prize for the United States in a ceremony at Disneyland on Tuesday for her song, “We Can Help.”

Dawn Balady of Paterson, N.J., was notified in a telephone conference call from the amusement park that she is among 50 children from 50 countries awarded the peace prize by the Children as Peacemakers Foundation in San Francisco.

“Oh, thank you,” the girl told group founder Patricia Montandon over the telephone. “Can I tell my mom?”

The nonprofit global group, dedicated to promoting world peace through children, sponsored a trip in March to the United States by Katerina Lycheva, a runner-up for the 1985 prize in Russia.

Balady was among 5,000 American children 6 to 11 who submitted essays, poetry, illustrations and songs about peace for the fourth annual contest.

She will be joined by the other 49 winners for an awards ceremony that includes the presentation of a trophy at Disneyland Nov. 12, park spokeswoman Lou Ann Cappiello said.

The girl was among three U.S. finalists chosen by a foundation panel of young judges in the San Francisco area, Cappiello said.

Balady said she was inspired to write her song by worries about global war.

“I think about it sometimes, and it does scare me a lot,” she said in a telephone interview.