It was a mélange of colours at Gitanjali Devashray School on Sunday as young artists from the city and neighbouring districts of Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Nalgonda, Bidar, Raichur and so on got busy painting their imagination on the canvas for the The HinduYoung World Painting Competition 2011.
These 400 finalists were selected from the 3,500 entries received for the preliminary round. Innovative works in mixed media showcased the children's concept of picnic with family, having fun at the playground, enjoying ice cream with friends and visit to a museum/botanical garden, the topics in the juniors category, for classes four to seven.
Droplets and blue sky, a biker's dream inspired by Royal Enfield and striking hot air balloons and more were showcased by seniors (classes eight to 10) for the topics enjoying the rain with friends, bicycle ride with friends, watching cricket/tennis match on television with family/friends and science exhibition.
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Vibrant colours, out of the box thinking and confident strokes marked the works which the judges Atiya Amjad, founder director Daira Art Gallery, Atika Amjad, chief strategist and director of the gallery; and Thota Laxminarayana, resident artist at Daira had a tough time in choosing winning works.
“We are looking at spontaneity, imagination and storytelling in the works,” says Atika Amjad. As the judges sifted through the works, scores of parents and children waited for the results.
“It is good to see so many hues around. For once participation is what seems to matter as everyone seemed to have done a good job,” says Sujata, a parent.
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In the juniors' category, the first prize went to Suhas Kellampalli of Manthan International School, with V. S. Srikar of St. Paul's High School bagging the second prize and K. L. Rudhani of Aurobindo International School winning the third prize along with cash prizes of Rs.3,000, 2,000 and 1,000 respectively.
Nikhil Jain of Oakridge International, Vida Kasireddy of Oakridge and Burma Bhargav of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Air Force Station Begumpet stood first, second and third in the seniors category and took home cash prizes of Rs.5,000, 3,000 and 2,000 respectively. Seven consolation prizes with a cash prize of Rs.500 were given in each category.
“There are few avenues for artists to showcase their work. We would like to take the creative art forward. We plan to display 100 paintings from each category,” Mrs. Atiya Amjad.
Giving away the prizes, Prakash G. Nair vice-president Marketing & Corporate Relations, Miot Hospitals observed, “We have immense talent here who will be great artists in days to come. All the parents here are blessed with talented children. Every year 2, 50,000 children are born in the country with congenital heart diseases of which only 10,000 have access to medical facility. Spare a thought for them,” he said as he spoke about the foundation Chime to support children with congenital heart diseases.
The title sponsor for the event was Miot Hospitals, national sponsor Amrutanjan, and regional sponsors were Union Bank of India, Siri Institute of Painting, LIC, Spencer's and Jersey Creamland Dairy Products.
The top three paintings from each category will now compete with winning works of the other zones.