BHUBANESWAR: SAI International School bagged the first prize in inter-school poetry competition organised at Odisha Literary Festival (OLF) here on Sunday. DAV Public School, Unit-8 and KiiT International School were adjudged the second and third runners up respectively.
SAI’s Class-XI student Tarun Tapan Bhuyan secured the first prize and a cash award of Rs 25,000. While DAV’s Class-X student Prapti Pratiksha Sahoo was awarded the second prize of Rs 15,000, KiiT’s Class-XI student Taksheel Mohanty received the third prize of Rs 10,000.
Deputy chief minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo handed over the prizes to the winners and lauded them for penning down their thoughts beautifully.
The competition was held as part of OLF’s first session on day two - ‘Prompts for Poetry: Igniting Passion in the Young’. Writer and translator Himansu Mohapatra and author Rabindra Kumar Swain comprised the jury.
In the first round, participants were given an impromptu topic to write a poem on rain-soaked earth and dewy leaves. Five students qualified for the second and the final round and were given another topic of lost friendship.
Speaking on the occasion, Mohapatra highlighted the role of poetry in literature. While encouraging youngsters to read and write poetry, he mentioned the famous 1989 American film ‘Dead Poets Society’. In the movie, a group of students studying in a conservative boarding school learn to rebel against the status quo and find a deeper meaning in life with the help of a new English teacher who used poetry to embolden their self-expression, Mohapatra said and advised the young poets to love, develop and feel the words while communicating their emotions.
Swain appreciated the participants and said he was amazed to see their command over the language. The students were given 15 minutes to 20 minutes each during both the rounds.
