Mediotsav - 2k18 Day #1.

The most awaited event for the media students in Kerala, finally have completed its first day today on 8th of March 2018. It is a 4-days event from 8th of March 2018 to 11th of March 2018. The event is taking place at different venues in the Tagore Theatre, Vazhuthakad, Trivandrum. It is organized by Kerala Media Academy.

The inauguration ceremony began around 11 am with dignitaries on the stage. Mr. Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Editor-in-charge of Asianet news Mr. M. G. Radhakrishnan, female photographer Ms. Sipra Das, award winning cartoonist from Kerala Mr. Sujith, were among a few of them. The lighting of the lamp was followed by short speeches by few dignitaries. 8th of March 2018, being International Women's day Ms. Sipra Das shared the struggle and challenges she faced in her profession as a female photographer. Around 11.20 am the inauguration ceremony was completed.

The events for the day were Carpedium prelims and finals (Quiz competition), Captura (Visual Production), Vista (Visual news presentation), Shutterbug (Photography),  Redactor (News story editing), and Knock (Social Media post). All the events went on pretty well. The winners of only Carpedium and Vista were announced. Both these competitions were very wonderfully presented and won by the Trivandrum Press Club students. The Carpedium had a note worthy performance by the first prize winners Ms. Arathy and Mr. Binesh from Trivandrum Press Club. It was really an amazing coincidence that Ms. Arathy was the only female participant for this competition. She laid a remarkable mark by her spontaneous answers proving her knowledge and representing women power in our country. The first and second place in Vista was bagged by Trivandrum Press Club. The jugde Mr. Lalu particularly mentioned the pros and cons of each groups. He was really impressed by Trivandrum Press Club students Mr. Noble and Ms. Arya's team work and excellent presentation.  They were the first prize winners for the event. The results of other events conducted are to be announced the next day.

To tell about the hospitality and management, it was not satisfying at some points. There were no arrangements made for the students who were not familiar with malayalam language, though the anchoring done in the inauguration ceremony had english as a common language. The hosts for the events were also making the announcements in english language. When asked about it to different event incharges, they accepted it to be a mistake from their end to not to include any provision for students not knowing english language or including atleast in their brochure that malayalam language will be mandatory for participants. The volunteers were not fully aware about the rules of the competitions. The help desk did its job pretty well. The catering department have been successful in serving a delicious and traditional food in breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

The inauguration ceremony of 2nd IPPFK (International Press Photo Festival Kerala) took place in the evening. Kerala Chief Minister Mr. Pinnarai Vijayan, world renounced photographer Mr. Nick Ut and American photographer Mr. Roul Row were the special guests present. The day ended with a tasty dinner for all. In all, it was organized quite well except few aspects which were ignored by them. All the participants are eagerly waiting for the second day of the event, to be more promising and entertaining.