Chennai:
Shruti Balaji, a nine-year-old girl from Chennai won the all India first prize in the art contest "Being a Child in India", organised by the US Embassy in New Delhi to highlight the importance of child survival.
US Ambassador to India Nancy J Powell presented an Apple iPod to Shruti, a student of PSBB School in Nungambakkam, today for her picture "Healthy and Happy".
Samya Rehan, 10, from Noida and Madhu Bhaandari, a fifth grader from New Delhi won second and third prizes respectively.
"India, Ethiopia and the US joined together in June to say that we wanted to make sure that every child around the world made it to age five. If you make it to age five, the chances are that you are going to make it to age 65. But it is very, very difficult for many children around the world to get to five."
"They suffer from lung diseases, from malnutrition, from diarrhoeal diseases and a variety of things... We wanted to have children tell us about their vision of what makes a child survival project work", the envoy said.
The Embassy announced the contest in September and the results were announced on October 11 this year, recognised as the International Day of the Girl Child by the UN.