The grand finale of KIIT Nanhipari will be held on Thursday and Friday at the KiiT International School campus here. As many as 32 finalists have been selected from regional auditions held in 10 cities including Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Guwahati, lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Itanagar and Bhubaneswar.
Six finalists from the South Zone have been selected for the grand finale and 15 from the East Zone including Tuhin Das, Sayal Mishra and Maitry Manali Pradhan from Bhubaneswar. The finalists will go through various categories.
Many attractive prizes have been introduced in this 16th edition of the competition. The prize money for the winner is Rs 21 lakh-Rs 3 lakh and 100% academic fee waiver subject to a maximum of Rs 18 lakh for studying in any discipline in the KIIT University. The 1st runners-up would win Rs 10 lakh-Rs 1 lakh cash prize and 50% academic fee waiver subject to a maximum of Rs 9 lakh for studying in any discipline in the university.
The 2nd runners-up would get Rs 9.5 lakh-Rs 50,000 cash prize and 50% academic fee waiver subject to a maximum of Rs 9 lakh for studying in any discipline.
"Nanhipari" is a talent show for teenage girls between the age group of 13-16 years. It had a modest start in 2001 in a remote and small tribal town of Keonjhar district. In the 15-year time span, it has become a national event of repute, touted as the 'little Miss India' competition, the only one of its kind.