National Geographic partners with Mexus Education to begin the hunt for "Student Icon of India"

With a commitment to encourage the viewers to explore the boundaries of mind and imagination, National Geographic Channel has partnered with Mexus Education to launch Iken Scientifica 2011, India's largest science and technology competition for school students. The competition will seek participation from over 6 lakh students from class 4th to 9th across 125 schools in the country. The national winner of this competition will walk away with the coveted title of "Student Icon of India" and an opportunity to host and be part of a show on the National Geographic Channel. He will also have the honour of representing India to compete for the title of "Global Icon of 2011-12" and a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to NASA.

Iken Scientifica is a unique platform for students to club their knowledge and creativity to innovate ideas. The competition will comprise of four rounds: city level, state level, national and the International Finale. As media partners, Nat Geo will be promoting the competition extensively through their channel. National Geographic Channel in India is known for creating innovative platforms with various partners in the past to support talent at grassroot level. Interested participants can register on www.ikenscientifica.com or sms IKEN YES to 567678.

Speaking about the initiative Debarpita Banerjee, VP ' Marketing and Communication, National Geographic Network and Fox International Channels India said, "As a channel, we have been deeply passionate about creating platforms to identify and reward curious minds at various levels. We take pride in associating with equally committed partners to make such initiatives a huge success. Children are the future of any nation and our new initiative Iken Scientifica, in association with Mexus Education, will encourage them to leverage their theoretical knowledge and creativity to break unconventional barriers of innovation. At Nat Geo, we will be supporting the initiative to spread the awareness and also give the national winner a once in a lifetime opportunity to be a part of a show on the National Geographic Channel"