THE first leg of the Kuntum-McDonald’s Colouring Competition 2010 series will kick off tomorrow at the National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, from 8am to 1pm.

Jointly organised by Kuntum, The Star’s children’s educational magazine and McDonald’s, the event will see the participation of nearly 4,000 pupils from primary schools within the Klang Valley.

Themed “1 Malaysia”, the colouring competition is open to all Malaysian primary school children. There are two categories for participants — Category A for children aged from seven to nine and Category B for children aged 10 to 12.

Eager beavers: A file picture of a previous edition of the Kuntum-McDonald’s colouring competition taking place at the D’Piazza Mall in Bayan Baru.

One of the main objectives of this colouring competition is to encourage the children to express their artistic skills and creativity through art.

The theme is also apt as it is very relevant to the nation’s call for unity among all which will be reflected through the eyes of these young children.

During the competition, there will also be activities for parents, from caricature drawing to batik painting and nail art.

Besides the National Art Gallery, the competition will also be held at three other locations later in the year.

The first location is at Mawanita, Johor Baru, on July 17, the second will be held at Dewan Masyarakat, Majlis Bandaraya Kuching Selatan, Sarawak, on Oct 16 and the the third will be at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on Nov 27 and 28.

This year, attractive prizes await the winners. The first prize winner will get RM400 cash plus a RM100 McDonald’s cash voucher and a one-year Kunturn subscription and the second prize winner will take home RM300 cash plus a RM100 McDonald’s cash voucher and a one-year Kunturn subscription

All participants will receive goodie bags containing Kuntum magazines, notebooks, stickers, posters, plus certificates of participation and other goodies.

To encourage greater participation by schools, the organisers will also be giving away prizes to schools with the highest number of entries.

Special kids have a ‘whale of a time’

THIS year’s ‘Kuntum-McDonald’s Colou-ring Competition 2010’ took on a “special” twist when 30 Down Syndrome, austistic and hearing-impaired children were invited to pitch their colouring skills against other primary pupils.

Held at the D’piazza Mall in Bayan Baru, Penang, on March 13, the children from the Penang Down Syndrome Association, National Autism Society of Malaysia (Nasom) Penang branch, and Sekolah Pendidikan Khas in Tanjung Bungah mingled freely with about 1,300 primary school children, all aged below 12, during the event.

Apart from the benefit of interacting with the other children, the special and autistic children had a whale of a time prancing around to the antics of mascots Ronald McDonald and Si Pintar from Kuntum.

Penang Down Syndrome adviser Dr Sim Joo Seng said it was good that Down Syndrome, autistic and hearing-impaired children were included in the competition.

Fun time: Special children posing with Ronald McDonald before taking part in the Kuntum-McDonald’s colouring competition at the D’Piazza Mall in Bayan Baru.

“We wanted these special children and those with not so severe disabilities to integrate with normal children.

“They were treated just like any other children and we hope they will be invited more often to participate in future competitions,” he said.

Although they did not bag any top prizes, they seemed happy enough clutching the goodie bags which were handed out to all the participants.

Participants were given two hours to express their creativity by colouring a pre-drawn scene on an art block with mascot Ronald Macdonald as the centrepiece.

Apart from the colouring contest, they also took part in some games and other activities.

Judging was quite a tough affair as many of the entries were good.

Participants were divided into two categories according to their age.

First prize winners Tan Ying Jie, nine, from Category A and Kelvin Lee, 11, from Category B won RM400 cash, RM100 McDonald’s voucher and a one-year Kuntum subscription.

Second prize winners Lee Sin Yin, nine, from Category A, and Khor Yong Xin, 10, from Category B, won RM300 cash, RM100 McDonald’s voucher and a one-year Kuntum subscription.

Third prize winners Desmond Ang, eight, from Category A and Angel Lim Yee Theng, 10, from Category B, won RM200 cash, RM100 McDonald’s voucher and a one-year Kuntum subscription.

The other consolation prize winners also won cash, McDonald’s vouchers and a one-year Kuntum subscription.

Golden Arches Restaurants Sdn Bhd’s marketing manager Alicia Low said the com- petition was a ‘smart partnership’ be- tween McDonald’s and The Star to encourage young children to be healthy, active and creative.

Barkath Co-Ro Manufacturing Sdn Bhd general manager Erik Lund said the company sponsored 1,300 cups of Sunquick juice for the participants.

Organised by The Star, which publishes Kuntum, and sponsored by McDonald’s Malaysia, the competition was aimed at promoting a healthy and balanced lifestyle.