It was indeed an ambiance filled with suspense and curiousity when the winners of the literary contest “GROW YOUR BUDS POETRY RENDITION CONTEST 2021” were announced. The contest was conducted by Motivational Strips, an active writers’ forum jointly with an educational group of India ‘Soundarya Educational Trust’. The contest had garnered interest of worldwide children, their parents and media over the last few months.
The program started with the prayer from a class 6 grader Arjunveer Singh and the welcome speech was delivered by class 5 grader Kulkarni. The function was felicitated with the august presence of the chief guests comprising of Head of Board of Governors for Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka (DBP), Malaysia Government’s Highest literary Institution and authority, YBhg Prof.
Datuk Seri Dr Awang Sariyan, Chairman Of Gujarat Sahitya Academy, Gujarat Government’s Highest literary Institution and Authority, Padma Shree awardee Dr Vishnu Pandya and the President Of Connecting Across Borders (CAB) who is as well the editorial counselor for International Writers Journal, USA Padmaja Iyengar – Paddy. They all expressed their views on empowering the future generation with such inspiring contests. Dr Awang highlighted that the cultural values have to be highlighted in all literary presentations while respecting all other global cultures. Dr Pandya highlighted that observation becomes an important factor to be a greater writer. Paddy spoke about keeping the room open to learn more, even if it has to be from the little children.
The founder of Motivational Strips founder, Shiju H Pallithazheth relayed the views of the chief guests while thanking them for having made time to attend the crucial meeting to declare the winners. He also highlighted the relevance of authentic and dedicated approach to determine greater quality in literature. The jury members of the contest comprising of Mary Lynn Luiz (USA), Dr Raja Rajeswari Seetha Raman (Malaysia), Penny Wobbly (UK) and Nivedita Roy (Bahrain) spoke about their challenges and experiences while evaluating each and every participant. Jury Member Samuella Conteh (Sierra Leone) couldn’t make it to the function owing to her health. The jury members in consensus spoke that the poetry rendition videos had to be repeatedly watched before deriving at final results.
They praised the efforts of the children who participated with their poems and its rendition. Chief Jury Member Dr Raja Rajeswari Seetha Raman highlighted the relevance of intonation, language accuracy and presentation of the poems while judging the contestants. The CEO of Soundarya Educational Trust Mr Keerthan Kumar spoke about the happiness and interest this contest had generated across the globe and looked forward for a gradual transformation post COVID on a literary meet with everyone’s physical presence. He also vouched Soundarya Educational Trust’s full support and cooperation to Motivational Strips for conducting such productive events which could empower the students of universities, colleges and schools . The contest Convener Sreekala P Vijayan anchored the entire program smoothly and with fluidity to make sure nothing went wrong. Shiju H Pallithazheth praised her efforts while highlighting the fact that her administration acumen had smoothly steered this mammoth contest from the very start to the end. He also highlighted that Dr Vishnu Pandya had turned up for the event irrespective of the fact that he was not keeping well in the last few days.
The name of winners were announced by the chief guests Dr Awang Sariyan, Padmaja Iyengar – Paddy and Shiju H Pallithazheth . The interesting fact that the number of winners had gone upto 8 from the initial plan of 6 winners was an important fact noted during the event. This had happened due tie marks in some of the winners jury marks. The winners of INDIA CATEGORY as declare is as below
• Ananya Madhubhashini (98.5/100 marks)
Class Grade 2
Study Hall School, Lucknow, India
• Sannidhi Kulkarni (98.25/100 marks)
Class Grade 5
Soundarya Central School, Bengaluru, India
• Arjunveer Singh (97/100 marks)
Class. Grade 6
Air Force School, Jammu & Kashmir, India
The winners for International categories declared by the chief guests are as below
1, Seethalekshmi Kishore (98.5/100 marks)
Class Grade 8
Indian school, Al Ghubra, Oman
2, Fida Ancy ((97.5/100 marks)
Class Grade 9
Indian Education School, Kuwait
3, Gouri Reghu (97.5/100 marks)
Class Grade 7
Indian School, Al Ghubra, Oman
• Anika Govil (97/100 marks)
Class Grade 7
Indian School, Al Ghubra, Oman
• Ryan John Samuel ((97/100 marks)
Class Grade 9
Indian Education School, Kuwait
Cash awards from royalty earned from best selling book ‘Katashi Tales’ was declared for top winners holding the highest marks in the contest, by Motivational Strips founder Shiju H Pallithazheth. The successful recipients of the cash awards were as below
• Ananya Madhubhashini (98.5/100 marks)
She won a cash award of Indian Rupees 15000
• Seethlekshmi Kishore (98.5/100 marks)
She won a cash award of US Dollors 200
• Sannidhi Kulkarni (98.25/100 marks)
She won a cash award of Indian Rupees 7500
It was interesting to note that Ananya Madhubhashini who held highest marks was the daughter of popular poet Malakshmi Borthakur and famous classical vocalist Dr Biju Kumar Bhagawati. It clearly indicates the strength of DNA transfer from parents to their offsprings.
The function neared conclusion with brief talks from Motivational Strips Regional Director (North & South America) Barbara Ehrentreu and Motivational Strips Chief Administrator for India Swapna Behera. Present were Chief Administrator of Motivational Strips handling USA & Canada region Melissa Begley and other administration members. The relevance of Motivational Strips as the world’s most active writers forum was highlighted by Motivational Strips Regional Director heading operations, Anne Thrope during the event.
