The Indian division of British Youth International College (BYITC) conducted an Essay writing and Picture Illustration Competition last month on the topic “Express Your Lockdown Stories”. The competition was organized for Indian school students in the age group of 4 to 16 years. The objective of the same was to promote creativeness and writing & drawing skills of the children.

The contest came to an end and winners of the same were rewarded with handsome prizes – The First, Second and Third winners were awarded with cash prizes of INR 10,000, INR 8,000 and INR 6,000 respectively. The Five best entries were also provided with consolation prizes of INR 1,000 each.

The Selection Criteria of the winners was based upon the creativity, positivity, clarity and originality of the stories. The entries were judged by an internal panel headed by Dr Rashmi Mantri, the Founder and Chairperson of BYITC, United Kingdom. The selection panel was comprised of two members from the content creation team and two members from the design and creativity team.

Excited about the announcement of the winners, Dr. Rashmi Mantri, Founder and Chairperson of BYITC expresses her emotions saying, “Since the starting of the contest, we received immense interest from different school students in India. To be honest it became slightly difficult for us to announce the winners as each kid who had participated  showed so much of creativity and genuineness in their work that we thought each one of them deserve to be applauded.”

The First prize was won by Malishka Jena who studies in class 6th at Terna Orchids International School, Koperkhairne, Maharashtra. Malishka had very well described her lockdown story which included her positive and negative emotions. Through her story, she had nicely proved that there is always a bright day after the darkness. The Second prize was won by Swastik Panigrahi who studies in class 2nd at Terna Orchids International School, Koperkhairne, Maharashtra. Swastik had expressed his lockdown story that reflected his strong will and fighting spirit against the odds. The Third prize was won by Tanishq Kakani who studies in class 6th at St. Anselm’s Sr Sec School, Ajmer. Tanishq had expressed his lockdown story in a way that conveyed a message of fighting the Covid by staying strong mentally and physically.

The British Youth International College also awarded the consolation prizes of INR 1,000 each to the five best entries next to the winners. The consolation prize are: Sameer Sethi from PIET Sanskriti School, Panipat; Nainika Mehra from Kothari International School, Noida; Ayush Mohapatra from Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandi, Puri;  Aarya Chauhan from The Modern School, ECNCR, Delhi and last but not the least Anushka Singh from HAL School, Lucknow.