FLAME Essay Challenge Result

Essay competition on ‘Is Indian Democracy Alive and Kicking?’

We have great pleasure to announce the result of the first All-India Essay Writing Competition for graduate and post-graduate students organized by FLAME School of Communication as follows:

First Prize: Rs. 10,000.00 (Shared jointly)
1. Shivani Mathur
2. Saaniya Raashid
(Each gets a prize of Rs. 5000.00)

Second Prize: Rs. 7500.00 (Shared jointly)
1. Sandeep Reddy Biddala
2. Satya Prakash Pandey
(Each gets a prize of Rs. 3750.00)

Third Prize: Rs 5000.00 (Shared jointly)
1. Gurtej Singh
2. Nupur Agarwal
(Each gets a prize of Rs. 2500.00)

Hearty Congratulation Winners!

About the Competition:
The All India competition under the title ‘FLAME Essay Challenge’ was organized by Pune-based FLAME School of Communication (FSC). Graduate and post-graduate students of Indian universities were eligible to participate in the competition. It was an extension of the debate that took place at a three-day seminar organized by FSC students from Feb 20-22, 2012 in which eminent persons from media, judiciary, executive and politics took part.    

We decided to offer opportunity to students also from other institutes and places to express themselves on the same theme ‘Is Indian Democracy Alive and Kicking?’ They could express their views through essays. We asked them to write an essay of 2000 words on the same theme and offered prizes for the best essays.

They were to discuss the current status of the Four Pillars of Democracy: Legislature, Executive, Judiciary, and Media. The posers were: Do you think these pillars have withstood the rough weather they have been facing during the post-Independence era? Can the people have faith in the democratic system at a time when these pillars have been criticized from all the quarters?

There was overwhelming response from students from all the four regions of the country, from small towns to metropolitan cities. They responded to our announcement sent to the e-mail addresses of the academic heads of the institutes given on their websites. As many as 579 students from physical sciences, social sciences, and technical and technology course registered online. The participants were asked to e-mail soft-copies of their entries, followed by hard copy couriered after getting endorsement from their academic heads.

We short-listed 18 entries for evaluation by a panel of three judges who were requested to look for the following points:
1.   Is there a strong central idea related to the theme of the essay?
2.   Is there a clear, logical organization with well developed major points that are supported with concrete and specific references?
3.   Does the author use effective transitions between ideas?
4.   Does the author express ideas that are fresh, vivid, and original?
5.   Is the essay free of mechanical, grammatical, and spelling errors?

The panel of judges consisted of the following:
1. Prof Vinay Hardikar, Faculty at the FLAME School of Liberal Education
2. Mr. Joseph Pinto, a veteran journalist and journalism educator, and
3. Prof Dr Kiran Thakur, the Competition Co-ordinator.

Each judge assigned marks out of 100. Their marks for each participant were added up and average was taken to prepare the list of the winners as announced above.

The prize money and certificates will be sent to the winners on their postal addresses mentioned in their online registration forms within the next fortnight. They should get in touch with us in case they do not receive the cheques and certificates latest by April 30, 2012. 

Congratulations to the winners and sincere thanks to all the participants and their institution heads for encouraging their students to participate in this unique, first-ever all India essay competition on a contemporary theme of interest to the young generation.

Thanking you, and with regards,
Yours,

Achyut Vaze                                                               Kiran Thakur
Dean                                                                           Competition Coordinator
FLAME School of Communication

April 09, 2012

About FLAME:
The Foundation for Liberal and Management Education (FLAME) established in Pune in 2004 has four schools – the FLAME School of Business, the FLAME School of Communication, the FLAME School of Liberal Education and the FLAME School of Performing Arts – all of which are residential courses.

The academic pedagogy at FLAME is a melange of theoretical knowledge and hands-on projects. Students make choices to choose from multiplicity of courses offered and there is no limit to how much one can learn here.

The President of the Foundation, Prof. Indira J. Parikh (Former Dean, IIM Ahmedabad) brings with her an experience of over four decades. Sports are an essential part of the curriculum and students are provided with an array of facilities to pursue any sport of their choice. FLAME is in its 5th year and has currently 500 students on campus.

About FSC: The FLAME School of Communication is a two-year AICTE approved PGDM program. It has been set up to meet the long-felt need for providing high quality education in the art and business of communication and media. The School offers options for studying filmmaking, television, advertising, journalism, and new media.

The FSC focuses on, both, classroom instruction and hands-on project work. Inside the classroom, students are taught and their minds enlightened by experienced academics and practitioners from the industry. Outside the classroom, students learn by interaction and discussion. The faculty also mentors project work. Students work on group as well as individual projects.
More information about our School is available at
http://flame.edu.in/program/school-of-communication