National painting award for city boy

Chennai: A. Yokaran, a class 9 student of Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Anna Nagar, won the first prize at a national-level painting competition on Sunday. The competition was organised by the Union ministry of power as part of the national energy conservation day.

Yokaran was in Delhi on Sunday to receive the award from power minister Piyush Goyal. His painting won the first prize at the state level contest in November that was held at Anna University this year before the same painting was selected at the national level, too.

Yokaran says his interest in painting has been there from a young age. His father C.S. Aravind nods as the boy says, “For the past seven years, I have been painting.” The competition is held every year at the school, state and national levels. Mr Piyush Goyal said, “I take particular pride in congratulating the children who participated in the painting competition.

Your imaginative paintings illustrate your level of engagement with energy conservation activities and concern for boarder environmental sustainability for a development that would sustain for many generations to come.”