It was indeed an ambiance filled with suspense and curiousity when the declaration of the winners for the greatest literary contest “GROW YOUR BUDS POETRY RENDITION CONTEST 2021” began yesterday. The contest was conducted by Motivational Strips, the worlds most active writers forum jointly with a reputed 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 Sannidhi 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), DrRaja 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. ( Lokalok )
