The finals of the Tata Steel Inter School Quiz this year concluded amidst presence of a huge turnout of students from four cities – Ranchi, Raipur, Bhubaneswar and Jamshedpur. The series had begun with quiz shows conducted across these cities, wherein students from over a hundred schools were carefully scanned for the finals. Renowned quizmaster, Mr Giri Balasubramanium, aka, ‘Pickbrain’ and his team conducted the grand finale of the quiz at XLRI Auditorium today.

This year, the quizzing pattern took a subtle shift with the scores being replaced by ‘runs’. During the pass-over rounds, the questions which were passed on carried with one extra run each time, such that the team which gave the correct answer would not only get the fixed 6 runs but also bonus runs of the number of teams over which the question had passed. Reiterating Tata Steel’s environment preservation initiative, ‘Greenfection’, the score board was aptly named as, ‘Greenfection Quotient’.

Eight schools qualified for the final round this afternoon. They are:

1. Aritra & Debamitra – DPS, Raipur
2. Anand & Arnab – DAV, Jamshedpur
3. Sumit & Sumona – Hill Top, Jamshedpur
4. Satwik & Abhishek – BJP, Bhubaneswar
5. Aditya & Farhad – Loyola School, Jamshedpur
6. Anurag & Ashwin – Rajendra Vidhyalaya, Jamshedpur
7. Paroma & Rimil – Sacred Heart Convent School
8. Pranshu & Sidhdharth – Little Flower School, Jamshedpur

More than six rounds of quizzing were held wherein DAV, Jamshedpur (37 runs) were declared winners followed by Hill Top, Jamshedpur (26 runs) and BJP, Bhubaneswar (25 runs) as first and second runners-up, respectively. Addressing the enthusiastic crowd, Dr (Mrs) Himani Pande, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, East Singhbhum, and chief guest on the occasion, said, “Quizzing is all about taking the right decisions at the time time. I wish all the teams and the children present here the very best in all their endeavours.”

While the regional Rounds at Raipur and Ranchi witnessed a participation of 212 and 180 teams respectively, the Grand Finale at Jamshedpur had about 325 teams, including those from the regional round vying for the final eight spots through a written elimination round.

The details of prize money awarded are as follows:

There are also attractive prizes for the audience and audience participation will form an important part of the quiz. Commenting on the wonderful show put up by DAV, Jamshedpur, Mr Giri Balasubramanium said, “For DAV, it’s been a cherry on a wonderful quizzing cake.”