Superstar Hrithik Roshan, wicket keeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni and actress Priyanka Chopra were among those chosen as the kids’ favourites, but the real stars of the POGO Amazing Kids Awards (PAKA) presented in Mumbai on Sunday were children like swimming sensation Aaron D’Souza from Bangalore and dancer Rajkumari Sanathoi from Imphal.
D’Souza and Sanathoi were among eight children who got the top awards for exhibiting extraordinary talent in categories like art, dance, entertainment, music, leadership, sports, genius and singing at the PAKA 2006 ceremony.
Each winner received a citation, a trophy and a child benefit policy worth Rs five lakh at the glittering ceremony which saw performances by actress Preity Zinta and Shiamak Davar’s Junior Dance Company.
While D’Souza bagged the award in the sports category for winning seven international awards and creating seven national records in swimming, Sanathoi got the award in the dance category.
Pallavi Mazumdar from Kolkata, who had earlier won the ‘Design a Stamp Contest’ of the Communication Ministry, got the award in the art category, while five-year-old Muskan Vijay from Gwalior got the award in the Entertainer category.
Akrit Jaswal from Chandigarh (genius), Shravya M from Hyderabad (leader), K Sathyanarayanan from Chennai (musician), and Vignesh Chandrashakhar from Chennai (singer) were the other winners.
The final eight winners from the 24 finalists were decided upon based on votes. Kids also voted Hrithik Roshan as the most amazing actor (male) and Priyanka Chopra the most amazing actor (female) for Krrish, which also won the Most Amazing Film, and Most Amazing Moment in a Film awards.
The Rang De Basanti song ‘Masti Ki Pathshala’ got the most amazing song award, while Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was declared the most amazing foreign movie. Paresh Rawal (most amazing comedian for Phir Hera Pheri) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (most amazing sports hero in cricket) were the other winners.