ENGROSSED: Students of Delhi Public School (South) participating in the International Creative Craft Competition 2006 in Bangalore.

BANGALORE: Children with a creative bent of mind were given an opportunity to explore and express their talent at the International Creative Craft Contest 2006 (ICCC) held here on Tuesday.

ICCC '06 is being held at four levels. The school-level competition was kicked off at Delhi Public School (South), and it will be held in various schools in Bangalore till Friday. Three students from each school will be selected to participate in the city-level competition, which will be held on August 31. This will be followed by zonal-level competitions from September 15 to October 8 in various cities. The final will be held in Mumbai from December 16 to 26. The contest, organised in 42 cities across India, will also be held in four international locations — the United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The "International Craft Champion" will get an opportunity to visit an international location.

About a million students from 5,000 schools are expected to participate in ICCC '06. The contest, an initiative of Pidilite Industries Ltd., was conceptualised to recognise and reward excellence in arts and crafts. At the mega final, prizes will be given for "International Creative Craft School of the Year" and "International Creative Craft Teacher of the Year."

"Tiger" is the theme of ICCC '06 and DPS (South) children were busy creating their favourite animal. "Children enjoy participating in such competitions. Crafts help children develop their cognitive and motor skills," said principal Manu Sharma. Over 200 children of the school participated in the competition.

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