Pune: Sakal Chitrakala Spardha, the drawing competition that has been bringing together children from Maharashtra and Goa to explore their creativity for more than three decades has added a new feather to its cap. The competition, on Sunday, created a record for the ‘India Book of Records’ as well as the ‘Asia Book of Records’ for being the ‘largest students’ drawing and painting competitions at multiple locations’
.
The competition was held simultaneously at 2,000 plus locations across Maharashtra and Goa, and saw participation of more than 7.5 lakh children. One of the unique features of the competition was that students from schools for children with special needs as well as Ashram (tribal) schools also participated in large numbers at several locations.
Dr Manoj Tatwadi, Adjudicator, India Book of Records, conferred the certificate and medal for the same to Mahendra Pisal, Chief Operating Officer, Sakal, on Sunday. Editor Samrat Phadnis, Dr Sunil Londhe of the Circulation Department, Ramkrushna Betavadekar, Director, Vishwakarma Charitable Trust, Pramod Nemade, Principal, Vishwakarma School, were also present on the occasion.
“The record has been created for maximum number of children participating in a drawing competition held at more than 2,000 centres in two states, all at the same time. For the India Book of Records, the Sakal Media Group was given the target of achieving 2 lakh participants to create a record, while a target of 3 lakh was set by the Asia Book of Records. The target was met at 11 am itself, when only one category of students out of the four had started. Thus, we soon declared that the targets were met and the claim attempts for the records were successful,” Tatwadi stated. He said that while the record has been made in the name of Sakal Media Group, it will be printed in the Book after a procedure where exact number of participants will be provided along with supporting documents.
While creating this record, Sakal has not broken anybody else’s record, but this special category has been created especially for this record. Sakal has been organising the competition for the past 33 years, attracting lakhs of school-going children every year at the centres in big cities as well as small villages.
