The four-day window of fun and festivity brought with it the challenge of identifying the pujas that had upheld the true spirit of the festival. The CESC The Telegraph True Spirit Puja award’s popularity was borne out by the figures. Several new pujas pushed up the number of participants, of which 175 were shortlisted, up from 130-odd last year.

Teams fanned out across the city to put to test the spirit of the pujas to share and care, to be clean and compassionate. On Sashthi, it was the turn of south and south-west Calcutta along with the popular choices of Maniktala, Beadon Street and central Calcutta. The next day, Kalighat, Bhowanipore and Behala along with Salt Lake, Howrah and the remaining part of north Calcutta were covered. Six pujas were shortlisted.

Celebrity judges Sujata Sen, Mati Nandi, Niranjan and Suktisubhra Pradhan, Sambaran Banerjee, Dilip Samajpati, Locket Chatterjee, Koneenica Banerjee and Madhabilata Amrita Mitra took over on Ashtami. Scanned for fire safety, drinking water facility, separate toilets and a gate for the physically challenged, Dum Dum Park Tarun Sangha made the Model cut, followed by Mudiali Club and Ramkrishna Athletic Club (Howrah) with Five Stars and Manicktala Chaltabagan Lohapatty, Behala Nutan Dal and Putiary Sarbojanin (Kudghat) with Four Stars.

Here are snapshots from the final-day True Spirit hunt.

Pictures by Pradip Sanyal and Bishwarup Dutta