The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), a contemporary art museum working to make arts accessible to all and promote a museum-going culture, recently hosted an online nationwide photography competition for school students called Shutterbugs. This contest was exclusive for under 18-year-old students and was open to anyone residing in India.

The contest was launched on World Photography Day by KNMA Founder & Chairperson, Mrs. Kiran Nadar. Keeping in tune with today’s times, the theme of the contest was ‘Act of Kindness’ where students were encouraged to capture acts of kindness through their lens and submit those images.

The contest jury consisted of eminent photographers Mr. Radhakrishnan Chakyat and Ms Neeta Shankar, amongst others. The quality, meaning and resonance found in each of the images submitted by these amateur photographers astounded the panel time and again. Speaking on the occasion, Mrs. Kiran Nadar said, “The response to this contest has been overwhelming. With more than 5000 students from over 2500 schools across India participating, finding winners was very difficult. The deep thought and effort put into each image was clearly visible to all of us. It was not easy to make this difficult decision, as we sifted through the fantastic entries.”

The winners are as follows. The winning images can be found on https://www.knma.in/knma-shutterbugs. Participants can download their certificates from the website.

• First prize of Rs 50,000 has been won by Karmanya Bafna of Podar International School, Powai, Mumbai.

• Second prize of Rs 35,00 has been won by Rajat Gakhar of DPS Rudrapur, Uttarakhand.

• Third prize of Rs 25,000 has been won by Souvik Dey of Banerjeedanga High School, Paschim Medinipur, WB.

• Consolation prizes of Rs 5,000 have been won by:

o Ronit Dagur of Sainik School, Bulandshahr, UP

o Priyansh Chaudhary of DPS Noida, UP

o Greta of Sushila Birla Girls School, Kolkata, WB

o Arunima Shrivastava of Mayoor School, Noida, UP

o Vasundara of DAV Public School, Chennai, TN

o Mankaranveer Singh of DPS Rudrapur, UK

o Shreya of Bal Bharti Public School, Noida, UP

o Ayush of Amity International School, Delhi

o Ojasvi Aggarwal of Bhavan Vidyalaya School, Chandigarh

o Aaryan Pathania of Army Public School, Delhi

The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art

Established by art collector Kiran Nadar in 2010, the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) is the first privately-funded museum of art exhibiting modern and contemporary works from India and the sub-continent. Located in New Delhi NCR, India’s capital city, KNMA hosts an ever-growing collection of artworks that both highlights a magnificent generation of 20th-century Indian painters from the post- Independence decades and engages with the different art practices of younger contemporaries.

Sponsored by the Shiv Nadar Foundation, KNMA is focused on bridging the gap between art and the public and fostering a museum-going culture in India. KNMA aims to become a place for confluence, dialogue and collaboration through its curatorial initiatives and exhibitions, school and college workshops, art appreciation discourses, symposiums, and public programs.