The first Upakriti Children’s Art Contest conducted on Saturday May 30 at DeAnza Park Sunnyvale was a grand success with close to 30 kids participating and raising money for underprivileged children at CHES and SOCARE.

The day started with excited parents and kids arriving early, armed with their art supplies. After registering and picking up their anonymized drawing sheets, the children and parents settled down enthusiastically in the room. The first 10 minutes was a presentation, tailored for the kids, about underprivileged children in India. They understood the extent of help needed and the importance of helping others in need. Later on, they also wrote up private messages for the children at CHES and SOCARE on pre-prepared charts.

Then the competition timer started, and the children began unleashing their creativity. While some kids finished drawing in 20 minutes, a few other drew for the entire allotted time of 50 minutes.The children drew art on various themes including Happy Children, Sharing food and toys, and, How I would help poor kids. The three judges, Aruna Piravi, a local professional artist, Sumedha Gupta a high school senior and artist who was featured in San Jose Mercury News for raising money to help educate kids in India by auctioning her art, and Nanci Jhaveri, an art aficionado and primary school teacher, spent the next 45 minutes examining every painting and deliberated over the winners in each category. They looked for creativity, use of color & space, and adherence to the theme and were floored by the level of detail and originality exhibited by the children. The children meanwhile were engaged in fun outdoor games like lemon and spoon, three legged race, and, Simon says in the adjoining park. Once the judges finished deliberating, the children and parents came back into the room and the prize distribution began. Every child was recognized for his/her creativity and was awarded a participation certificate. The judges were so impressed by the effort of the kids in 5-6yr category that they gave out 2 second prizes.

Both the parents and kids commented about how much fun the event was. Upakriti wishes to salute the talented little artists for their charitable spirit, for their hard work, perseverance, and, for wanting to make a difference in the lives of kids who are less privileged than themselves. The children at CHES and SOCARE extend their sincere gratitude for the thoughtfulness and patience of the parents who have encouraged their children to expand their horizons.

Here are some pictures from the event.

Sanvitti Manchanda, Aaranya Chandra, Anvita Aravind

Click here for more pictures including every painting and the prize giving.