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Win or not, never give up: ScooNews Young Star Awards
ScooNews Young Star Awards are given to meritorious students from different fields, in an effort to recognize and encourage students to go beyond ‘just studies,’ laying emphasis on an overall development of every student.
Celebrating Independence Day with vigour and zest, ScooNews Young Star Awards, lovingly and better known as SYSA, commenced on Monday yesterday evening at Maharana Pratap Auditorium, Jaipur. And we have to admit, the very first attempt to celebrate children and their achievements was more than the usual success. Success, not measured in terms of which eminent personalities made time for it (though several did), but by the awarded children went back smiling; that alone confirmed SYSA were a major success.
Marking their presence were some of the top educators from across the nation — Suniti Sharma, principal, Maharani Gayatri Devi School, Jaipur; Rama Dutt, principal, Sanskar School, Jaipur; Madhu Maini, principal, Jayshree Periwal High School, Jaipur; Dr Pankaj Prabhat, director, Jaipuria Insititute of Management, Jaipur; Kamaljeet Yadav, principal, Subodh Public School, Airport, Jaipur; Sanjay Purkayastha, headmaster Sanskriti, The Gurukul, Guwahati, Assam; Shrutidhar Paliwal, VP, Aptech Ltd; Meenakshi Uberoi, education evangelist and founder De Pedagogics, New Delhi; and Nisha Jain Grover, director, Vatsalya Legacy Pvt Ltd, Jaipur — who came together to light the lamp and set the tone for the awards night.
Glad that for the first time ever children were being awarded at a national level, Suniti Sharma said, “Children these days are venturing into so many fields, their arena has widened so much that it becomes difficult for schools to recognize them, they do so much more than just scoring good marks. So, as an educator, I congratulate ScooNews for identifying such wide talents and encouraging them to move ahead.”
‘Identifying talent’, yes, surely; for certainly SYSA is a platform where children are recognized for their talents. Said Tanu Singh, a student of JKG School, Ghaziabaad, and an accomplished dancer, "I have won several awards at school competitions in and out of my state, but being nominated and then winning at a platform where students from across India have gathered, those who are not just limited to dancing… it feels good.” She continued, “I hope to do better, I’ll definitely try harder now on. May be next year too I would get to reach here!”
Now, this is exactly what ScooNews had aimed for, encouragement! Certainly, school students and their mentors too look forward to one such umbrella where academics and the extra-curricular are appreciated on the same platform. This entire celebration of ‘studenthood’ was divided into the following categories — achievement in academics for classes 10 and 12 students (with 95% or 10 CGPA); achievement in sports for those who inspire others with their individual or team performance; achievement in art and culture for those who are exceptional dancers, musicians, artists, poets, etc; student of the year for all-round performers. Students who did not fit in any of these categories but were outstanding were awarded under the open category.
And who better could have done this than ScooNews, the name that is now known to prioritize students and their holistic development, giving a platform to school children like Pranav Sharma and Ojas Godatwar to see their dreams materializing. No, the two boys did not win any award, but kept the audience entertained with their interactive session during the awards.
“We started out with a very different dream, and eventually reached where we are right now. Hearing about the brilliant benchmarks being set by students in various fields, we couldn’t help but think why not create a platform to celebrate their achievements and provide them the necessary exposure. And today, standing here, I can proudly tell you that the thousands of nominations that came pouring in from different parts of the country just proved that the youth wanted such a platform, they wanted to be heard and showcase their achievements to the world. Whether they win or not, my short message to every student present here is, ‘never give-up’,” said Ravi Santlani, the co-founder and CEO, ScooNews.
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And the award goes to…
Sports: Sarthak Seth & Shambhavi Kumari (winners from JKG International School, Ghaziabad and Sanskar School, Jaipur, respectively), Rishabh Tyagi (first runner-up, Gurukul – The School, Ghaziabad), Yuvraj Singh Hara & Aatrika Kumar (second runners-up from Gillco International School, Mohali and Teoler High School, Jaipur, respectively).
Art & Culture: Jinsa Elizabeth George (winner, Mount Caramel School, Chandigarh), Arjun Basor (first runner-up, JKG International School, Ghaziabad), Muktansh Bari (second runner-up, Jayshree Periwal High School, Jaipur)
Open category: Shivang Madaan (winner, Ivy World School, Jalandhar), Nishtha Gupta (first runner-up, Subodh Public School, Airport, Jaipur), Vatsal Jhunjhunwala (second runner-up, The Millennium School, Lucknow)
Academics (class 10): Madhumita Bisht (winner, The Mann School, New Delhi), Harsh Poddar (first runner-up, Sanskar School, Jaipur), Divas Jyoti Parashar (second runner-up, Sanskriti School, Guwahati)
Academics (class 12): Shivam Shekhwat & Chinmay Metha (winners from MGD School, Jaipur and Jayshree Periwal School, Jaipur), Vibhi Dixit (first runner-up, MGD School, Jaipur), Divya Choudhary (second runner-up, MGD School, Jaipur)
And the stars of the evening were the Students of the year:
Vansh Vasishtha (winner, The Mann School, New Delhi)
