Jiang Yake paints at the Great Wall in Beijing.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Organizers are encouraging those in need of help to first do something meaningful for their families, the communities in which they live or for society as a whole.

"We hope, through this way, to cultivate the children's sense of independence, love, social responsibility," said Yan Chuanzan, CEO of goujiawang.com, an indoor decoration website based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, which sponsored the contest.

"For those kids who need help, we hope that they can receive aid with dignity, and that's why we ask them to 'give' before 'accepting'," Yan said.

In September, Jiang, the girl with the ailing father, painted a series of pictures from her father's hospital ward.

In them, she traveled to other planets and saved the aliens, who in turn gave her magic pills as a reward. In the paintings, the pills helped Jiang's father recover, and she gave the rest to people with the same disease and everyone was cured.

The paintings proved heartwarming to many people. Staff members of the contest's organizing committee went to Changsha, donated 20,000 yuan to the girl and her father, and encouraged her to participate in the contest.

At the ceremony, Jiang held two of her paintings and said: "Thank you all and thanks to the contest. I can show my paintings and get help from more people."

Zhu Yaokui, an 83-year-old fine arts professor at Tsinghua University's Academy of Art & Design, and a renowned educator in China, said the purpose of art education is to help children feel, discover, create and possess beauty.

"The contest, enabling children to help each other, is leading them to this direction," he said.

The young artists' paintings can be viewed at http://www.haaaaaa.com