Congratulations and celebrations

Twenty years is a long time and definitely calls for a big splash. That's what happened at a recently held function. The final round of The Hindu Young World quiz set the tone. Later in the evening there was the release of Forever Young, a book that has captured the essence of Young World through the years. The Postal Department too joined in with the issue of a Special Cover on the occasion.

SOMETHING SPECIAL: M.S. Ramanujan, Post Master General, Chennai releasing the Young World Special Cover and N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu receiving the first cover. Indian Racer Karun Chandhok (left), M.V. Muthuramalingam(second from left), Chairman, Velammal Educational Trust, and Nirmala Lakshman (right), Joint Editor, The Hindu are in the picture. Photo : V. Ganesan

Put your hands together as we celebrate the 20th birthday of Young World . Two decades have swung by and a generation has grown up reading this paper. To mark the occasion, a series of events was held at the Kamaraj Arangam, Chennai, recently.

An exciting day…one that never stopped to take us by surprise every now and then. A team from Kochi, Kerala, walked off with the first prize in The Hindu Young World Quiz 2010; meeting one of the fastest men behind the wheels Karun Chandhok; to the release of a special Young World cover by India Post… it was truly one of a kind celebration.

The evening began with Dr. Nirmala Lakshman, Joint Editor,

The Hindu , addressing the gathering. Tracing its history since its inception she spoke about how

Young World was the first of its kind…a complete newspaper for children. With an aim to entertain educate and expand the minds of young readers, its purpose was truly fulfilled as those seven-year and eight-year-olds have today turned into young adults managing different positions, while making informed choices.

Show stoppers

The release of the Young World special cover by the Postmaster-General M.S. Ramanujam was followed by the launch of the book Forever Young by Karun Chandhok. The first copy was presented to the two national award winning child actors — Kishore and Sreeraam, who acted in the movie “Pasanga”. They said though they were not avid readers of newspapers they do love reading Young World . Kishore loves the stories, Sudoku and puzzles while Sreeraam loves the paintings and the Crayon Corner that used to be carried in Young World.

“I am very happy that

Young World is recognising young people like us,” said Sreeram.

Sharing his thoughts with us, Karun said, “I grew up reading newspapers. In fact today when the whole world is shifting from reading a newspaper to online versions I feel happy that I can still read the newspaper. Jokes, games and puzzles from the Young World were always my top priority it was the most awaited supplement for me and I am very happy to be a part of the 20th anniversary celebrations today.”

Lot of winners

The evening also saw the felicitation of the dynamic duo Niveditha Subramaniam and Anjana Vasugi, the persons behind the Collector's edition — Forever Young .

The winners of the “ Young World Collage” and “Design your own Young World” competitions were also announced. The winners (in rank order) for the “Collage” were Jeevana Schools, Madurai; Vel's Vidyasharm, Chennai; and G.N.S.M.H.S.S., Sowripalayam, Coimbatore. The winners for “Design your own Young World” were Kendriya Vidyalaya, Vishakapatnam; Vel's Vidyashram, Chennai; and Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Tripunithura, Kerala.

Addressing the gathering, Mr. N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu emphasised the need to cultivate the habit of reading newspapers. “Print or online, that is a personal choice,” he added. He also said that Young World was a comprehensive newspaper in itself as it covers a wide range of topics.

Mr. Muthuramalingam, chairman,Velammal School, the title sponsor requested The Hindu to also start a similar drive for the colleges as students coming from rural areas would benefit from reading newspapers and improve their language skills.

The cheering continued till the end as the prizes for the winners of the regional and the grand finale of the quiz were given away. Smiles, memories, autographs, photographs and lots of goodies accompanied the students back home as they wished the year would go by soon…just to be back next year!