3,000 kids from over 20 schools of Amravati had gathered at Dnyanmata High School. The Tiger Fest was organised for teh fifth time by the Nature Conservation Society Amravati and the Sanctuary Kids for Tigers Progamme. The Tiger Fest provides a platform for school children to display their talent and love for the environment through exhibits, skits, songs and so on.

This year's fest organised at Amravati was a grand success. 20 schools set up stalls, which they decorated with posters with pictures of wild animals and depicted conservation problems. Each of the exhibits were based on either an animal or bird selected by the school - leopard, monkey, kite, snake, jackle, sloth bear, hyena, wild dog, porcupine, macaque, rhino, pangolin.

Stalls set up by: Narayandas Laddha High School, Mohanlal Samra, Mudholkar Peth, Sant Kanwarram Vidyalaya, Saraswati Vidyalaya, Jack and Jill High School, Shriram Vidyalaya, Dnyanmata High School, Holicross English Convent, New High School Main, Ramkrishna Vidyalaya, Paradise English Convent.

Best exhibit awards: Wild dog, snake and pangolin were seslected as best exhibits. Two large kites with the message 'Save the Tiger, Save the Earth' and created by Nur Mohammad and Sons Patangwala were a major attraction. Judges: Dr.J.A.Tidke, Head - Botany Department, Amravati University and Dr.G.N.Vankhede, Head, Zoology Department Amravati University.

Indra Pratap Thakare, Sanctuary's Young Naturalist Award winner conducted innovative nature games, which kept the kids engrossed. Sanjay Rithe and his Duda team; Nandaram Bhusum, Suresh Dhikar and Ramu Chimote presented a street play 'Jungle ki Kahani'.

Two kids from each school dressed as tigers for the Fancy Dress Competition: Sameer Kasam from Paradise convent, Nikhil Goenka from Ramkrishna Vidyalaya and Sagar Mathurkar from Saraswati Vidyalaya won for their beautiful costumes.
Judges: Sugandha Deshmukh and Nilima Patil.

Later in the evening, each of the participating schools made a five-minute presentation on environment and forest. Some of the best presentations were made by Mudholkar Peth Primary School on 'The gathering of Birds'; Dnyanmata High School on 'Ek Paudha, Ek Diya' and Paradise School on 'Save Trees, Save the Earth.'

Another Young Naturalist Award winner, Vishal Bansod projected the entire proceedings and five-minute clippings of the 'Land of the Tiger' and 'Bhimashankar' on the large screen, which was set up at the venue.

Father Sirriac, Principal of Dnyanmata High School was the Chief Guest for the Prize distribution ceremony. Results of annual Kids for Tigers evaluation were declared and evaluation sheets were distributed to all point teachers. Prizes were awarded for Maximum participation in nature walks, Best Notice Board, Best Slideshow, Participation in wildlife week celebrations, Active participation in the Signature Campaign and Best Point Teacher.

Report by Kishor Rithe, Kids for Tigers Co-ordinator, Amravati