The much awaited prize distribution ceremony of the regional round of Landmark’s Young Artist Hunt was held at Landmark, Citi Centre, on Wednesday. The evening came to an exciting finish with S Thanekaivel, a student of Chettinad Vidyashram, making his way to the national finals. Rob, the creative host of the multi-award-winning show MAD that airs on POGO, singled out the winning painting from the top five paintings from Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad regions.
Expressing delight, Thanekaivel explained how the win came as a big surprise since he never got to complete his drawing, a pencil sketch of Mother Nature, within the allotted 45 minutes at the competition that was held in the city on December 24.
“I never expected to win. I was the only person to submit a pencil sketch. I have no words to express my happiness,” exclaimed the youngster who has been learning the nuances of painting in Shrishti School of Arts for the last seven years. The Class 9 student and budding artist recently held a canvas painting exhibition at the Lalit Kala Academy, Egmore.
Out of the 154 entries received from the three metros, the paintings that won the maximum number of SMS votes from the public amongst the 20 shortlisted in the first round comprised the final entries.
Thanekaivel will represent the southern zone in the National finals that will be held in Mumbai later this month.
The prize distribution was preceded by a fun-filled arts and craft session that had Rob engage the tiny tots with an array of activities to create junk art. The enthusiastic fans who learnt easy ways to craft colourful Christmas trees from waste paper undeniably had a field day.