Shaastra, the annual technical festival of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, is back in its 13th edition.
With “Inspire the Future” as its leitmotif, Shaastra 2011 will be held over five days between September 28 and October 2, hosting 50 events and eight workshops.
This year, a set of events have been earmarked, under the banner of Department Flagship Challenges, to promote specific branches of engineering like biotechnology, civil engineering and chemical engineering. Events like Robotics, Aerofest, Junkyard Wars, Shaastra Main Quiz, Project-X, Shaastra Cube Open, which have been major crowd pullers, are to be reinstated.
Most of these events have an online qualifying round. The deadline for submission of entries online is September 10. Events such as Robotics and Contraptions require at least a week of planning. Some events require the participants to pre-register, the deadline for the same being September 10 as well. Pre-registration is free.
Shaastra 2011 will have the highest amount of prize money ever, beating last year's record of Rs. 15 lakh.
This is sure to make every event more fiercely contested than ever.
The organising team of Shaastra 2011 strives to create a platform to promote creative thinking and help students interact with the industry and other tech-enthusiasts across the country.
Shaastra has the distinction of being the first student organized event in the world to be ISO 9001:2008 certified, a testament to the dedicated effort by the students to orchestrate the grand event.
In the past, Shaastra has seen participation of over 20,000 students from all over the country.
Shaastra 2011 will reach out to 800 colleges through the “Outreach Program” and invite students to the myriad events and workshops at the festival. A series of pre-Shaastra events called Shaastra Sampark will be held in Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad with the intention of taking Shaastra to the doorsteps.
Sampark Bangalore will be held on September 18.
