New Delhi [India], Jan 19 (NewsVoir): Purnea Lok Sabha Vikas Parishad (PLSVP) conferred the winners of a statewide essay competition for school and college students of Bihar.

The multilingual essay competition held in the fond memory of former Prime Minister Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which was launched on October 2, last year and received a positive response from the students in the first year itself with more than 25,000 entries.

Former MP from Purnea Lok Sabha seat & PLSVP patron, Uday Singh, aka Pappu Singh selected seven school-level and seven college-level participants as the winners of the competition. The first-prize winners of college-level competition Shreyshri, Shail Kumari and Ghulam Mustafa were awarded a cash prize of Rs. 50000 each. "Atal Ji was a man of words and intellect with varied interest in poetry and writing. It's my tribute to late Atal Ji and I am sure the young generation will have a lot to learn from life of Atal Ji."

The winners under school-level category Gaurav Bhardwaj, Mohd. Aarif and Rohit Kumar received a cash prize of Rs. 25000 while Prem Kumar, Niharika Nigam were awarded Rs. 30000 each. Sammi Kumari and Sonam Kumari were awarded Rs. 15000 each, while Roshan Kumar was handed over a cheque of Rs. 10000. The students were also conferred with a certificate of participation. Niharika Nigam who won this prestigious prize said, "This prize is a great honor for me and this Essay competition gave me an opportunity to research and explore more about Atal Ji."

The results of the competition were declared on December 25th, 2018 (Atalji's birthday). 18 participating students from Purnea district were also selected in the competition and they will be provided with a monthly scholarship of Rs. 1000 each for the next 24 months. "I am elated to be selected for this Prize. Atal Ji was a great leader who worked for progress of our country. He respected every religion and we still remember him with lots of affection and respect." (NewsVoir)