Conceptualised by Kamal Chopra, the Print Olympiad is called “the biggest talent hunt in printing and the only competition of its kind anywhere in the world”. The competition has begun with the preliminary MCQ tests across the East, the West, the South and the North regions. The mode of the exam is online. Students are expected to be prompt in putting their print knowledge given a duration of only 30 minutes, although no negative marking is liable.

On 21 January, Kanai Paul of Jadavpur University inaugurated the East Zone session. He appreciated the efforts of OPA and emphasised the key role of printing technology to the younger generation.

Hosted by the Regional Institute of Printing (RIPT) Kolkata, the East zone witnessed the participation of twelve students from various printing institutes in Eastern India such as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Tripura, West Bengal, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The East Zone coordinators comprised Shankhya Debnath, lecturer, department of printing technology, RIPT and Arpitam Chatterjee, associate professor, department of printing engineering, Jadavpur University.

Malay Barik, senior software engineering manager, Adobe Systems spoke about the increasing importance of personalisation in print and the role that print technologists can play in the domain. He said the Print Olympiad can prove to be a tool for persuading the students to learn out-of-the-box ideas and to be prepared for the latest innovations in printing and packaging.

The chief coordinator of the project, TKS Lakshmi Priya - an academic consultant - shed light on the importance of the Print Olympiad in seeking the attention of students all over India to enroll themselves to pursue career in printing courses.

The objectives of the Print Olympiad are to give opportunities to students of printing to highlight their technical knowledge and their technology-readiness. This unique event has attracted the attention of printer associations all over the globe and national associations of various countries have extended their eagerness to join in.

The jury for the preliminary MCQ test for East Zone included Brundaban Behera, director, Print Tech Offset (Odisha); Subhrajit Ray, press and forms manager, Government of West Bengal; Shilpi Naskar, assistant professor - printing engineering, Jadavpur University and Krishnendu Halder, HoD and lecturer - printing technology, Regional Institute of Printing Technology.

Hosted by RIPT, the Print Olympiad East Zone webinar saw twelve students put their brain cells to test

The judges short-listed the top seven students from the region to be eligible for the regional finale to be organised in a physical mode at a leading printing institution. These students are Oishi Chakraborty, Waliul Hoque, both from RIPT Kolkata. Shadab Alam, Harshit Chaturvedi, Binila Biswas, Vishwarup De and Suyash Srivastava all from Jadavpur University, Kolkata.

In his closing remarks, Anubhava Shiksharthi, project advisor, appreciated the dedication of the coordinators and the chief coordinator and congratulated the students.