Print Olympiad – West Zone First Round

Print Olympiad is considered to be the biggest talent hunt in the education field of Printing and is the only competition of its kind all over the world. The first round of preliminary level test for the students of printing studying in western region of the country was conducted at virtual platform on 4 June, 2022. The West Zone competition is hosted by the Department of Printing Technology & Graphic Arts, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, Maharashtra and Pune Vidyarthi Griha’s College of Engineering and Technology were the host institutes for this competition. 

Welcoming the participating students and other dignitaries, Prof (Dr) Anjan Kumar Baral who is the National Coordinator of the Print Olympiad said. OPA (Offset Printers’ Association) is considered to be the most active printers association and is also active in the field of Print Education and recognizing the print talent through conducting Print Olympiad. The key role in sowing the seed of the Print Olympiad has been done by Prof. Kamal Chopra and the competition has taken a brilliant shape in the last 5 years. Dr. Baral said, for the smooth and vibrant approach and to reach every part of country, separate coordinators are there for all the regions. The West Zone coordinators are Prof. Madhura Mahajan HoD Printing, PVG’s COET & GKPWIM, Pune and Prof. Parag Hase, BAMU, Aurangabad, who are also the moderators of the event. 

Speaking on the occasion Prof. Madhura Mahajan expressed that this talent will help students get ready for the real world of industry and make them competitive. Prof. Parag Hase expressed his thoughts as a west zone moderator the Print Olympiad and mentioned that it is important to be successful, but it's more important to find out success by being a part of such competitions. 

Since the competition is organized on virtual platform, it is necessary to plug all the loopholes and at the same time to create a most transparent and user friendly platform for this one of its kind competition in the world. Er Bijinder Kaushik, Asstt. Professor at GJU S&T, Hisar is working hard on it since the competition is started 5 years ago. Last minute instructions, rules and regulations for the online MCQ test were explained to the participating students, once again, by Er Bijinder Kaushik.

The Judges of the event, Prof. P. Sasikala Professor & Head, Department of New Media Technology Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal; Prof. Arun Gangarde, HOD Printing, New Arts, Commerce & Science College, Ahmednagar; Shailendra Vishnu Pople, President, Dombivli Shahar Mudrak Sangh, Chairman, Software for Printing Industry, All India Federation of Master Printers (AIFMP). 

Speaking on the occasion, Raveendra Joshi, President Poona Press Owners Association (PPOA) and former president of AIFMP elaborated the current situation of the Printing & Packaging industry in India and also explained the role of print teacher/student for its improvement, which was very informative, and many students got to know the upcoming trend in the printing field. 

In his inaugural address while declaring the competition open, Prof. K.G Suresh Honourable Vice Chancellor, Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism & Communication, Chief Guest of the event, encouraged the conducting of this program and mentioned that such programs help to build the bridge between industry and academia. He expressed joy that Prof. Kamal Chopra has been taking such initiative to promote print and related activities and encourage students to join the industry. He offered for conducting national finale at their university. 

Speaking on the occasion, Anubhava Shiksharthi who is national advisor for this event said, Offset Printers' Association (OPA), started the project ‘Print Chetna’ (awareness about Print) to educate the youngsters about printing and to persuade them for adopting printing as a career. At the same time, as a part of this project ‘Print Olympiad’ was started in 2016, to persuade the existing students of printing for out of box ideas and to look beyond the books to be abreast with latest innovations. Print Olympiad is considered to be the biggest talent hunt for printing in India. The brainchild of Prof. Kamal Chopra, 'Print Olympiad' is considered to be the only event of its kind for the printing students anywhere in the world. He invited students to work hard to shine as a Top Print Student of the country.

During the event online lucky draw was also conducted to find the winner of ‘Proud to be a Printer’ golden pin. Names of all the delegates other than participating students were included on the online spinning wheel to get the winner at one click. The spinning wheel declared Mr. Shailendra Pople as the winner of the Pin.

Participating students were supposed to answer the 50 MCQ (Multi Choice Questions) in given time of 30 minutes. Finally 41 students were participating in the first round of selections. The 9 students, viz. Tanay Sarwade, PVG College of Eng. & Tech., Pune; Abhishek Mahesh Khadkikar, PVG College of Eng. & Tech., Pune; Mehetre Sakshi Arun, New Arts, Comm. and Sc. College, Ahmednagar; Pavan Kokane, SIES College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai; Roshan Kailas Bachhav, PVG College of Eng. & Tech., Pune; Sanmay Jain, PVG College of Eng. & Tech., Pune; Dwayne Mandy, PVG College of Eng. & Tech., Pune; Siddharth Pandey, Government Kalaniketan, Jabalpur and Gaurav Kishor Patil, K.T.H.M. College, Nashik were considered eligible for competing in the second round.