I&B ministry declares winners of its Online Short Film Contest

Abhijit Paul's "Am I?" bagged the first prize at the event

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Friday announced the winners of its Online Short Film Contest with Abhijit Paul's "Am I?" bagging the first prize.

The contest, which the I&B ministry had organised along with National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) as part of Independence Day celebrations, went live on July 14 and ended on August 7.

The main theme for the contest revolved around "patriotism, equating it to Atmanirbharta (self-reliance) as the new mantra of progress for the nation," the ministry said in a statement.

The second and third prizes went to "Ab India Banega Bharat", directed by Debojo Sanjiv, and "10 Rupees" by Yuvraj Gokul.

Seven other filmmakers were honoured with Special Mention for their participation in the competition.

Union I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar congratulated the winners of the contest in a post on Twitter.

"Heartiest congratulations to the winners of #NFDC #ShortFilm #Contest on the theme of '#Patriotism -Marching towards #Atmanirbharta' & thank you to all the participants for their outstanding contribution in making this competition a roaring success! #PatrioticFilmFestival" he tweeted.