Bhubaneswar, April 30: A series of competitions in dance, song, instrumental music, solo acting and art were held at Rabindra Mandap and Panthanivas today in which around 240 youngsters from across the state took part.

The talent hunt, under the aegis of Chief Minister's Trophy, was conducted for high school and college students. A similar scheme also runs for the schoolchildren under the Governor's Trophy title.

The competitions conducted by the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi and Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi were held both in senior and junior categories for Plus Two and Plus Three students.

One of the highlights of the contest was the winner of the painting competition who impressed everyone by her creation on Nabakalebar. The girl, Sarifuna Quadri, is from Balasore and won the Chief Minister's Trophy in the junior category.

"The painting gathered a lot of attention and was appreciated by the judges," said Tarakant Parida, secretary of Lalit Kala Akademi,

"Culture is not limited to schoolchildren. It also rests on the youngsters of the state to promote their traditions hence the decision to award meritorious artistes on the high school and college level was taken," said secretary of Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi, Dhira Mallick.

In the Odissi dance section, the young dancers showcased their skills deftly. Most of the dancers were trained and displayed intricate footwork and movements.

The dancers touched upon various Odissi styles, including Mangalcharan, Batu, Pallavi and Abhinaya.

A participant from Keonjhar, Manjil Mohapatra, was quite confident about her performance. "I had practised a lot for the competition and had put in a lot of focus on the expressions," said Manjil.

It was amazing to see the precision with which the participants played the musical instruments such as tabla, mardala, harmonium and others. The students also floored the judges with their solo acting performances.

They enacted scenes from popular plays and various characters using voice modulations, intricate expressions and dialogue delivery. While some of the acts dealt with serious issues, others made the audience laugh with their comic acts.

"Each of the acts was exception in its own way. We had a great time watching them," said a student of Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Sai Ram.

The talent hunt had begun from the block level and ended at the state-level. While over 5,000 students took part in the block level competitions, around 1,000 from the lot were selected for the district competitions. The selected participants took part in the finals today. The winners will be awarded at Rabindra Mandap tomorrow.