The Tropicana Painting Prodigies National Painting Competition and Awards is being held in the six cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. In the Mumbai round, hundreds of students from all major schools in the city participated in the on-the-spot painting competition on Sunday.

The theme of the national competition is A World of Good. Participants can express their thoughts on the beauty of the world through their paintings.

Pepsi Foods' executive director (functional beverages) Subroto Chattopadhyay has been quoted in an official release saying, “While there is no dearth of encouragement for other extra-curricular activities for students, be it sports, theatre and music, there is a need to give a boost to the latent painting talent in schools. This national competition is a small beginning, but we are determined to take it forward in the coming years.”

The release informs that the competition has been divided into two phases. Phase I is the “Tropicana Painting Prodigies Competition”, and Phase II is the “Tropicana Painting Prodigies Awards”. Phase I is the qualifying round of the competition. The participants have been divided into three categories.

Category A comprises of students from the third and fourth standard, category B is for the fifth and sixth standard while category C is for the seventh, eighth and ninth standards. Participants can use any media in the competition, including water colours, oil paints, tempera, pastel colours, fresco, or any other “art and craft” material.

Top three winners from each category in each city will qualify for the Tropicana Painting Prodigies Awards. These winners will be selected by an eminent panel of judges who keenly follow art, or have taken up art as a passion or profession. The panel of judges includes Lakshman Shreshtha, Atul Dodiya and Laxman Gaud.