IIT Kharagpur’s Deepit Purkayastha was today chosen as the Nano Student of the Year. Tata Motors launched the ‘Nano Student of the Year’ contest on September 14, 2012, for all college students in India, to mark its association with one of Bollywood’s biggest releases this year, ‘Student of the Year’, a romantic comedy, directed by Karan Johar.
Tata Nano fans, Channel V viewers and ‘Student of the Year’ stars, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt, also chose Vruta Bhavsar, who studies at NIT Surat, as the first runner-up and Abhijay Negi, of the National Law University, Jodhpur, as the second runner-up. Deepit received a cash award of Rs.3 lakhs, while Vruta and Abhijay respectively won a Tata Nano and a Macbook Pro.
The contest received an overwhelming response of 10,000 entries. In the first round, students were judged on 4 parameters – academic track record, – arts, involvement in sports, and social responsibility. Basis these parameters, the 8 finalists competed for the ‘Nano Student of the Year’ title by performing 6 different tasks, in 2 weeks, while viewers & Tata Nano fans voted for their favourite student on the website.
The grand finale, which was telecasted on Channel V, saw the finalists vie for the title as they showcased their wit, grit and talent. Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt judged them and their points were added to the viewers’ votes. Deepit Purkayastha was declared the winner with 20,060 votes.
The Nano Student of the Year was yet another innovative initiative from the Tata Nano, the DNA of which is ‘never-thought-of-before’. From being one of the most popular automobile Facebook page, with over 2.5 million fans, to launching the Nano merchandise online store on Ebay, to coming up with a unique Social Road Trip with MTV, Tata Nano is resonating with what the youth today participates in.