Undivided South Kanara swept the honours at the well-attended The Hindu Young World painting competition for students that was held here on Sunday. While Udupi took the top three prizes in the juniors category (classes 4 to 7), it was Mangalore – and in particular, a sister act – that dominated the podium in the senior category (classes 8 to 10).
More than 650 entries – a drastic jump from the 432 entries received last year – were received at the regional office in Mangalore, and this was short-listed to around 460 entries. Assembling from six districts – Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Kodagu, Chikmagalur, Hassan, and Shimoga districts – at Canara High School, Dongerkery, here, the students were given themes such as ‘Trip to the village’, ‘Potters’ village’, ‘When books come alive’, ‘Bird watching’, ‘Vegetable market’, and ‘Shopping with family’, among others.
The judges — artists Dinesh Holla and Sapna Noronha — gauged the paintings on their understanding of the theme, creativity, and artistic skills. Colour and imagination ran wild in the competition that saw acrylic, water-colours, pencils, crayons being used to bring out lively imagery.
With vivid colours and confident strokes, Megha Manoj, a class 9 student of Infant Jesus Joyland School, Mangalore, bagged the first place in the senior category for her portrayal of a ‘Trip to the village’. Her older sister, Manishma Manoj, a Class 10 student in the same school, finished second.
Both of them have won national-level art competitions, and accolades are evenly split among them.
In last year’s edition of the same competition, Ms. Manishma secured the third place, while Ms. Megha had won a consolation prize.
“We are pretty competitive, especially among ourselves,” laughs the younger sister. Deeksha Moolya, a class 6 student of Amritha Bharathi Vidyakendra, Hebri, took the top honours in the junior category for her colour sketch-pen art that showed a bustling fruit and vegetable market.
The competition adds another feather to the national-level competition-winning amateur artist.
As Mr. Holla said there were no losers in the competition.
Though returning home empty-handed, the excitable Pravav S.K., a class 4 student of Gonzaga School in the city, was lost in his canvas for three hours as he recreated ‘the sports day’ in his school.
M.R. Jayesha, Deputy General Manager, State Bank of Mysore, Mangalore Zone, was the chief guest.
The presenting sponsor for the competition is MIOT International; while the beverage sponsor is Hangyo Ice Creams Pvt. Ltd. (Shri Krishna Dairy Pvt. Ltd.)
