How would a holiday in space look like? Students at the regional finals of The Hindu ’s Young World Painting Competition in Tiruchi on Sunday did seem to know as they indulged their fancy in filling charts with asteroids, space shuttles, swings fastened on the moon and even aliens playing cricket in space.
As many as 335 children managed to re-create slices of school life in the library and chemistry lab, revisit memories of picnics on beaches and holidays in hill stations, at Shrimati Indira Gandhi College. While the ‘space holiday’ was the pick of the seniors (Class VIII to X), the beach was the most favoured topic by children in the junior category (Class IV to VII) with boats, kite flying, waves, beach volleyball, sunsets and rocks as popular motifs. “We usually get to paint sceneries or themes such as save the environment,” said, Swetha, a participant. “The event gave us a lot of choices and we had fun painting.”
This year with eight topics to choose from in each category, participants could depict scenes from supermarkets, circus, magic show, library, book fair, chemistry lab, sports day, Republic Day parade, gardening, field trip and news reporting. An element of social consciousness crept in canvases that depicted safety on roads and pollution of beaches.
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60 schools
Of the 60 schools represented in the event, 47 were from outside Tiruchi with students making it from Kumbakonam, Pattukottai, Thanjavur, Perambalur, Pudukottai, Karur, Nagapattinam and Karaikal.
Distributing the prizes, M.A.Maluk Mohamed, principal, M.A.M. College of Engineering, lauded parents for motivating children and accompanying them to the event on a Sunday. As testing memory is the premise of the education system, parents should back children to participate in activities that test knowledge and encourage creativity, he said. M.Ayyappa and M.Rajappa artist brothers from Pudukottai adjudged the finalists who were initially selected from 2,700 entries in the junior and 700 in the senior categories.
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Winners
The top spot in both senior and junior categories were clinched by students of Kamala Niketan Montessori School, Tiruchi, Jidesh Kumaran (standard X) and S.Pranav (standard V) respectively. The second and third prizes in the senior category were bagged by students of D.B.T.R. National Higher Secondary School, Mayiladuthurai, B.Padmavathi (VIII) and S.Dhivya (VIII). In the junior category, students from Karur took home the laurels. R.Thenmozhi (VII) of Chettinad Vidya Mandir was the runner-up with C.Akash (VII) of Velammal Vidyalaya secured the third prize.
The following students were awarded consolation prizes of Rs. 500:
Junior category: P.Mukesh (VII), Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Nagapattinam; N.Booja, (VII) R.S.K Junior School, Tiruchi; A.Ranjana Devi (IV), Chinmaya Vidyalaya; G.Sakthi (VII), Chettinad Vidya Mandir, Puliyur; P.Swetha(V), Pon Vidya Mandir, Karur; Sandeep Selvakumar (VI), Blossom Public School, Thanjavur and Jedidiah Easter John (V), Santa Maria School.
Senior category: F. Hanscie Dinah (VIII), St. Joseph’s Anglo-Indian Girls Higher Secondary School; R.Suvenisa (IX), R.S.K Higher Secondary School; R. Janani (IX), Montfort School; A. Prasath (IX), Chinmaya Vidyalaya; S.Prem Kumar (IX), Boiler Plant Boys Higher Secondary School; Yamini (IX), Santa Maria Matriculation School and G. Subasri (VIII), Holy Cross Girls Higher Secondary School. The top three prize winners in the seniors category bagged Rs.5000, Rs.3,000 and Rs.2,000 respectively as cash prizes and for juniors it was Rs.3,000, Rs.2,000 and Rs.1,000.
MIOT Hospitals was the title sponsor and associate sponsors were Amrutanjan and Dabur. The regional sponsors were City Union Bank, Canara Bank, Edify Kids, Andavar Plus and Aqua Supreme. The beverage partner was Fruitnik while Sree Sweets sponsored snacks.