Ooty girl bags top honours in The Hindu Young World painting contest

A total of 146 students took part in juniors category, and 139 students in the seniors category

Students taking part in the 16th edition of The Hindu Young World painting competition held at Avinashilingam University on Saturday. PHOTO S. SIVA SARAVANAN

The 285 school students, who took part in the 16 edition of The Hindu Young World painting contest on Friday, gave a very hard time to the judge, ‘Marudhur’ K. Koteeswaran. For, he found most of the students excelling and there was very little to differentiate their works.

But, Mr. Koteeswaran somehow managed to narrow down the top three entries in juniors and seniors category.

During the prize distribution ceremony, he told the parents that he was astonished by the amount of creativity and skills exhibited by the students.

“We have Picassos (one of the most influential artists of the 20th century) and Rembrandt (one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art) among us, but lack of parental support is preventing the emergence of talented artists from India.”

He went on to add that every academic subject had a correlation to art. The topics for the event were chosen based on what students came across in their everyday life.

While the topics for junior category were bird watching, puppet show and a vegetable/fruit market, the topics for seniors were a trip to the village, traffic jam and sports day A total of 146 students took part in the juniors category which comprised students from Standard IV to VI. As many as 139 students took part in the seniors category from Standard VII to X.

In the seniors category, the first prize went to Megha Arun, Class VIII student from J.S.S. International School in The Nilgiris district, for her painting on ‘a trip to the village,’ the second prize went to M. Keerthikasree, Class IX student from S.B.O.A. Matriculation Higher Secondary School, for her work on the same topic, and the third prize went to R. Jeyatheerthan, Class IX student from Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, for his work on ‘traffic jam.’

In the juniors category, the first prize went to S. Keerthivassan, Class VI student from Bharathi Matriculation Higher Secondary School, for his painting on vegetable market, the second prize to S. Lalith Mohan, Class V student from S.B.O.A Matriculation Higher Secondary School, for ‘bird watching,’ and the third prize went to L. Porveesha, Class VI student from G.D. Matriculation Higher Secondary School, for puppet show piece. Miot Hospitals was the title sponsor, Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College was the regional sponsor, Roshan Bags was the gifts sponsor and Aroma Bakery the snacks partner.