Junior Picasso receives huge response from schools

The painting competition by the Dainik Bhaskar Group received 24,620 entries, from across 30 cities in the country.

A painting competition titled Junior Picasso, organised by the Bhaskar Champ Club (BCC), a students' talent platform, created by the Dainik Bhaskar group, had participants from over 30 cities from states such as Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand participating in it.

Junior Picasso receives huge response from schools

The four-month long event, held at a national level, was the first such initiative of the BCC. The theme for the painting competition was 'Four Seasons of the Year'. Of the entries, 24 paintings were selected for a tabletop calendar. Though the group initially printed 5,000 such calendars for distribution to the participating students and schools, it later printed 5,000 more calendars, thus taking the total number of calendars printed to 10,000.

Each Junior Picasso calendar has eight winning entries, selected from across all groups, while six paintings representing the four seasons have been printed in the calendar. The competition concluded in December last year, with prizes been given on January 14, 2011, in Delhi. The prizes included cash scholarships, medals, laptops, wristwatches, dictionaries, mountain bikes and encyclopaedia.

Vinay Maheshwari, vice-president, corporate SMS, Dainik Bhaskar Group, says that the activities conducted by the BCC are designed keeping in mind the interaction, involvement, and interests of the schools. "The activities need to be educative, highly interactive, and innovative."

The competition, which was open for students from class 1-12, was divided in three categories -- classes 1-4, classes 5-8, and classes 9-12. The entries were first shortlisted at the state level. A jury at the national level then selected the winners.

The Dainik Bhaskar Group gave away 'Gurukul' trophies to those schools from which the winners had been selected, and 'Dronacharya' trophies to the teachers under whom they (the winners) had trained. "This gesture further enhanced school participation by giving it a competitive edge," adds Maheshwari.

He also adds that Junior Picasso was one of the initiatives that the Dainik Bhaskar Group undertook to enhance reader-engagement in the young generation.

In a bid to further increase its engagement with the students, the group has launched Junior Editor, which aims to develop the reading habit in youngsters. The group has already received confirmation from 800 schools, across 30 cities, for participation. The club, which already has a membership of more than 50,000 school students, is hopeful of increasing this number to a lakh by the end of 2011.

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Dainik Bhaskar Group Junior Picasso