Winners of talent hunt programme awarded
The final of the provincial level competitions of the “Chief Minister Punjab Talent Hunt 2022” were held at the Alhamra Cultural Complex under the Punjab Council of Arts (PUCAR), Information and Culture Department of Punjab.
Toppers of divisional level competitions (from nine divisions) in six cultural disciplines -- painting, craft, singing, prose writing, folk dance and theatre -- took part in the competitions and expressed their talents in their respective areas.
Renowned senior artists from film, TV, radio, theatre and other fields, Khalid Abbas Dar, Asim Bukhari, Roohi Khan, Ustaad Salamat Ali Khan and Anwar Rafi, were among the judges at the competitions.
Fareeha Wassey from Lahore, Adeel from Faisalabad and Khadeeja Nawaz from Gujranwala took first, second and third positions respectively in the painting category. In the craft category the top positions were bagged by Samra Shahid, Lahore; Kainat, Multan, and Amina Akram, Sahiwal. Ataa ul Islam, DG Khan; Arsla Hussain, Faisalabad and Seerat Fatima, Gujranwala, became champions of prose writing competition.
Singing competition category was topped by Memoona Sajid, Lahore; Zeeshan Ali, DG Khan, and Tahir Ali Khan, Rawalpindi.
Ruqaya Naeem Group, Bahawalpur, won the first position in the theatre category while Amir Shehzad Group, Sahiwal, got second and Nosherwan Group, Faisalabad won the third position. Lahore topped the folk dance category by winning first position, DG Khan second and Multan third. First, second and third position holders from each category were awarded cheques of Rs200,000, Rs150,000 and Rs100,000 respectively.
Provincial Minister for Culture Khayal Ahmed Kastro was the chief guest and distributed cheques at the concluding ceremony.
While talking on this occasion, the minister thanked the prime minister as well as the chief minister of Punjab for patronising the ministry of culture by extending all kind of support for institutions and people associated with it.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 17th, 2022.