Star Quest '09 -- The Astronomy Quiz Competition 2009
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The Story of success
With the efforts of all the members of our society the preliminary rounds were started at 10.00am on 24th of May. Many leading schools from island wide had participated to this event. Last year finalist Nalanda College Colombo was also there. From those schools, eight schools were selected for the Quarter finals.
The Quarter finals, started at 10.00 am on 31th of May with the participation of 8 schools, that qualified for the further competition, at the end of the Preliminary rounds of "Star Quest 09", held on last 24th.
The Quarter Finalists of "Star Quest '09"
There was a noticeable interest from the zealous students, all of whom wanted to go ahead in the contest. However the following 4 schools qualified for the Semi Finals, making the selection of winners, narrower.
The Semi Finalists of "Star Quest '09"
In the first session of the Semi Finals Ananda College, and Sirimavo Bandaranayake Vidyalaya were onstage, for the contest. Each team had 4 members and each school had to face three interactive rounds of questions, which were interrogated by the Miss Monika Madhavi, the president of Mathematical and Astronomical Society of University of Colombo. Then Mahinda College, Galle took on the astronomical team of Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo. Sometimes the audience was so thrilled at the reactions and gestures of the students, who showed off their talents in Astronomy and related advanced sciences, like Cosmology and Astrophysics.
However, as per the marks, scored by each school, Ananda College, Colombo 10, and Mahinda College, Galle had the lead over their opponents.
The Grand Finalists of "Star Quest 09"
As the time passed by, the long-waited encounter arrived in the end. It was the elite Anandians who were taking on mighty Mahindians of Down-South. The grand final consisted of three rounds. First round delivered a separate question for each member of each team. The second round was funnier, as it was the busor round, which took the crowd with great joy and enthusiasm. The last round was a different session, which gave 3 niche-related words for each team for the precisest explanation. Each team had 2-minute time for expressing their idea on the special verbatim. It was astronomically funny to see each team getting together and building up the answer, collectively and the utterance, being expressed be an individual, as per the rules and regulations.
In the end, after an unforgettable quizzical experience in the International Year of Astronomy 2009, Mahinda College, Galle had taken the leading edge and thus were crowned Champions, while the Ananda College, became runners-up.
Then the chief guest, who was the renowned Dr. Chandana Jayaratne, a senior lecturer at University of Colombo, and both the patron and chief treasurer of the Mathematical and Astronomical Society delivered his address. He had been excited to behold such a good competition and said that he would envisage a separate department, arranged for Astronomy, in the long run.
The certificates, medallions and the trophy were awarded by the Dr. Chandana Jayarathne and the quiz-masters of the "Star Quest 09", Mr. Sachith Dissanayake, Mr. Praveen Janantha and Mr. Lasitha Senarathe, all of whom were alumni of Ananda College, coincidentally.
Further, Miss Susini De Silva, the Secretary of Mathematical and Astronomical Society of University of Colombo, made the vote of thanks, paying tribute to everyone, who contributed to the success of "Star Quest 09", organized by the Mathematical and Astronomical Society of University of Colombo. In terms of sponsorships, Sri Lanka Telecom was the golden sponsor, whereas ACBT, Achievers, National Lottery Board & Sustegen also sponsored
"Star Quest 09", providing financial means for the project. The event came to and end at 02:45 pm local time (05:15 h EDT), Colombo, Sri Lanka.
 | Runners-up -- Ananda College,Colombo |
| Mahinda College,Galle -- crowned Champions |  |
