New Delhi: DuPont India yesterday announced the winners of the second 'DuPont India Challenge' - a nation-wide science paper contest for school students in India in the year 2003.

The best three adjudged entries in each category - Senior and Junior - were recognised by a DuPont India Challenge trophy, a cash prize and a Certificate of Achievement.

The awards were presented by eminent scientist Dr R A Mashelkar, Director General, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research at a ceremony hosted in the capital yesterday. Renowned DuPont scientist Dr Uma Chowdhry, Vice President - Global, Central R&D, and Pankaj H Shah, outgoing president - DuPont India, were also present at the ceremony.

The winning entry in the Senior Category (Class 9-12) was "The Miracles of Cloning" by Pratham Saxena and Ravi Dadhich of Class IX , Springfield School, Jaipur.

In the Junior category (Class 6-8), Akshay Kumar of Class VIII, Loyola School, Jamshedpur was declared the first prize winner for his paper titled "Cloning".

The second and third position honors went to R.Sindhu of Madurai and J. Jonathan Hudson of Chennai, respectively in the Senior category while the Junior category runner up and third place went to Sulagna Chakrabarty of Mumbai and J. Agnishwar of Chennai, respectively.

The First Place entry received a cash award of Rs 12,000/-, the Second Place entry received a cash award of Rs 9,000/- and the Third Place entry received a cash award of Rs 6,000/-. In addition to the winning entries, the Top 100 entries in each category have been awarded special recognition with Certificates of Distinction and a prize. All participants whose entries were qualified for the Jury evaluation each received a Certificate of Participation.