Bhubaneswar, March 31: The non-resident Odias from various parts of the globe have come up with a special round of competitions on the occasion of Utkal Divas with a view to promote tourism in Odisha and attract more investment to the state.

Titled Global Odisha Competitions, the event has invited entries for dossiers (promotional brochures) on Bhubaneswar and other parts of the state.

The organisers plan to publish and introduce the best dossiers as flight magazines and provide fliers with an insight on the booming economy of the state, apart from its rich culture and heritage.

The dossiers will also be given to the state government for consideration to prepare similar records.

"During the past 10 years, Odisha has been trying hard to get and establish top-notch higher education institutions, including national institutes and central universities. Now, the state not only has several of these, but also has developed a nationally-known knowledge hub in Bhubaneswar and emerging hubs in Sambalpur, Rourkela and Berhampur. However, very few people are aware of these developments," said Chitta Baral, one of the organisers of the event.

"In particular, it is not a widely-known fact that Bhubaneswar has more universities and university-like institutes than cities such as Pune and Mumbai and almost as many as in Hyderabad and Bangalore. Also, Sambalpur is shortly going to have six universities and university-like institutions," he said.

"With this competition, we are looking to take Odisha to the next level," he added.

The second category of the competition, which is meant for architecture students and architects, is about street makeover designs for Lingaraj Street and KIIT Street.

The third competition is about travelogues on Odisha while the fourth one is about legends and stories based on the Buddhist sites at Ratnagiri, Lalitgiri and Udayagiri.

Writers and students of language, literature or Buddhist studies should consider taking part in the competitions, said the organisers.

Each category of competitions has prizes between $300 and $500 to be won.

Registration for the competition is open now, and the final submission date is May 15.

These competitions are part of a larger Global Odisha Conference that will be held in Washington DC, USA, on July 1 and 2. The conference aims to bring together Odias and well wishers of the state of Odisha from all over the world to work together to promote the state and it's rich cultural heritage.