City registers 1-2 as Ashwin T of PES University comes second while Jiju Shaji of Kannur University finishes third

Bengaluru   : Dhruv Sharma, presently studying in his seventh semester of Computer Science Engineering (CSE) at the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Bengaluru, won the first ever Praxis Data Science Student Championship-South Zone Challenge, after a gruelling final round held in a city hotel on Wednesday. Praxis Business School is a premiere institution focussed on building Digital Leaders of the future.

An eminent jury comprising Prof. Gourab Nath, Praxis Business School, Mr. Pavan Nanjundaiah, VP-Data Science & Data Engineering, Quince and Mr. Rajiv Ranjan, Genpact, deliberated at length after taking presentations from the eight finalists, before announcing the winner.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Charanpreet Singh, Founder, Praxis Business School Foundation, said, “What we have witnessed today is the tremendous potential of our youth to lead the Digital Economy of the future. We congratulate not only today’s winners, but all the 550 entries who displayed great passion and zeal towards leveraging technology for everyday problem solving. That is what Praxis stands for. We wish all of you all the very best in life.”

Dhruv not only produced a realistic and sustainable solution to the “Rent Predictor” challenge, but also walked away with a cash prize of INR 25,000 as well as the winner’s certificate.

The first Praxis Data Science Student Championship-South Zone Challenge was run in a Hackathon format, which went live online on May 12, 2022. Given the huge enthusiasm, entries were allowed till the first week of June, when the top nine finalists were frozen from among a total of 550 entries.

The finalists were invited for the third and final stage – an offline event held in Bengaluru. Two additional analytical questions were provided to them. The finalists were required to present the logic of their approach and answer the questions. The winners were decided by the panel on this basis.

The Hackathon was evaluated on the Machinehack platform run by Praxis knowledge partner for the Hackathon- Analytics India Magazine, who are India’s leading India’s analytics content creator.

The ‘Silicon Valley of India’ in-fact registered a 1-2 as Ashwin T of PES University won the second prize while Jiju Shaji from Sir Syed College of Kannur University in Kerala, won the third spot. They also won cash prizes of INR 15,000 and INR 10,000 respectively to go with their certificates.

Among the other institutions represented in the finals were Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, IIT Kottayam, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai and AKNU College of Engineering from Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh, among others. All finalists received certificates of commendation.

Prof. Singh added in conclusion, “We would also like to thank our eminent jury for taking the time out for our youngsters and being passionate, sincere and thorough with their work. They have been a source of great inspiration for our finalists today and indeed throughout the length of the championship. We shall remain ever indebted. We look forward to taking this competition national.”