The final round of The Hindu Young World painting competition witnessed the birth of many young artists. At least the first prize winners of both the junior and senior category of the contest, D. Arvind and P. Pavan, swore they would like to grow up to become artists.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Pavan, a class 9 student of Telangana Social Welfare Residential School, Cheriyal, said that while his father was an agricultural labourer in Warangal district, he always dreamt of becoming an artist. He bagged the first prize for his painting on the theme ‘save the girl child’ in sombre shades.
His young friend, a class 6 student of TSWRS, Cheriyal, Mr. Arvind too wanted to become an artist. Son of a taxi driver, he said he would go on to study painting in the future. “I enjoyed this experience and would like to make myself better as an artist.”
The event was presented by Thyrocare and the venue partner was Gitanjali Devashray School. The regional partner for the competition was Life Insurance Corporation of India and GITAM University. The snack partner was Spencers Bread.
With a massive turnout of 372 boys and girls, the other winners were P. Sravani of TSWRS, who got the second prize, and S. Ramcharan of Delhi Public School, who bagged the third prize, in the junior category (classes 4 to 6). In the senior category (classes 7 to 9), the second and third prizes went to S.S. Ashank Reddy of DAV Public School and Shriyadita Narayan of Delhi Public School, respectively.
Fourteen other students, who performed well in the contest, received consolation prizes. A total of 194 students participated in the junior category, while 178 participated in the senior category.
Prizes were given by chief guest Priti Samyukta, head, Department of Painting, Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University. Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Samyuka told the students not to think of only winning a prize while painting. “I paint because I love painting. You should paint for the love of it and not to win prizes,” she said to a cheering crowd of parents, teachers, and students.
Sharing their experiences, artists who brought groups of students to the competition, said participating in the competition enriched the children. “We brought 22 students to participate in the programme. All our students are happy to have been a part of it,” said Sekhar Shinde, an art teachers at Vibrant Art Collective.
A beaming parent, Lavanya, whose son had qualified for the final round, said she would bring him to the competition next year too. “This was his first experience as he had just entered class 4. I would like him to have such good exposure,” she said.
The competition was overseen by T. Ravi, regional head of The Hindu.
