(More innovative campaigns to promote Kerala Tourism will be implemented: Shri Mohamed Riyas)
TTT NEWS NETWORK
Thiruvananthapuram | 10 SEPTEMBER 2025
Tourism Minister of Kerala, Mr. P A Mohamed Riyas today gave away the prizes to winners of the International Online Painting Competition for Children conducted by Kerala Tourism as part of its innovative campaigns to ramp up the state’s standing as an all-season experiential destination.
“This painting competition was a wonderful experience for Kerala Tourism to connect with international talents and share their creative expressions on our state,” said Shri Riyas at the prize distribution ceremony held here.
“Kerala Tourism has always come up with innovative strategies to bring more tourists to our state and spread the core values of Kerala’s communal harmony, and hospitality across the globe,” he added.
The competition has created ambassadors for the Kerala Tourism in 132 countries. When children participate in this competition, their parents, relatives, and classmates also got the opportunity to learn about Kerala, said Mr. Riyas.
Mr. D Jagadees, Additional Secretary- Tourism, Government of Kerala and Mr. Mohammed Saleem, Tourist Information Officer, Kerala Tourism were also present at the ceremony.
The competition was held in three categories— for contestants from abroad, for those from Indian states other than Kerala and for those from within Kerala, all in 4-16 age group. The theme of this edition of the competition was “Village Life in Kerala”
The event generated keen response from across the country and abroad with 57,308 contestants submitting entries. Of these, 4,620 came from 132 foreign countries, 46,464 from various Indian states and 6,224 from within Kerala.
Steven David from Bangladesh, and Varnana Ratheesh from Kerala received the top prize among all the categories from the Tourism Minister.
Another 8 entries in the international section also received prizes. They were Nika Hristic (Serbia), Martin Lyuboslavov Lambev (Bulgaria), Irina Barabanova (Russia), Almira Makhsetova (Uzbekistan), SinaliRuwanyaThushmini Peiris Heraliyawalage (Sri Lanka),Alexander Bogdan Viktor Metzger (Germany), SenudiChithulima Kariyawasam KariyawasamIdipalage (Sri Lanka) and Chloe Hannah Marsh (UK) won the prizes in the international category.
Dolbee Rani Parida (Orissa), Dhiya H (Tamil Nadu), Kritika Kushwaha (Maharashtra), Skanda. R (Tamil Nadu), S B. Shravantica (Tamil Nadu) won the prizes in India category. The winners from Kerala are Jaganath KM, Malavika VP, and Sahasra Vinu.
The winners in foreign and India sections will get an opportunity to visit Kerala for five days along with their family members. The winners in the Kerala section will receive booking coupons for a two-day stay at any of KTDC’s premium hotels.
Also, 22 contestants from the international section, 30 from the India section and 20 from the Kerala section were selected prizes. A total 103 participants will get consolation prizes.
A screening committee made the initial selection, which then went to a judging panel of experts.
Prizes were also given to promoters who facilitated the greatest number of participations for the competition.
The campaign used 24 languages, 14 of which were foreign, and is estimated to have reached around seven million people.
Around 1 crore people visited Kerala Tourism’s website www.keralatourism.org during the period of the painting competition. The number of visitors and subscriptions to Kerala Tourism’s official YouTube channel also spiked during this period. The number of foreign tourists visiting Kerala also increased during this period.
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