Kotak Life Insurance & Mattel India Announce The Kotak Life Young Scrabble Masters Championship 201

Dec. 14, 2009 - PRLog -- Mumbai: Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Limited (Kotak Life Insurance), one of India’s leading life insurance companies in association with Mattel Toys (India) Private Limited, launched the ‘Young Scrabble Masters 2009-2010 Championship’ today. More than 1 million children in eight cities across the country would participate in the national-level, inter-school scrabble championship.    

The championship aims at testing children’s word building skills in an interactive and entertaining format Young Scrabble Masters inculcates the values of good English language usage and sound arithmetic in a socially inclusive way. It also brings the talent of Young Masters of the game to the fore  by televising the finals as a two part series.
Announcing the launch of the   Young Scrabble Masters   championship, Mr. Gaurang Shah, Managing Director, Kotak Life Insurance said, “At Kotak Life Insurance, we have always stressed on the importance of securing a child’s future and providing them a ‘Headstart’ in life. This championship is another step in our continuous endeavour to facilitate adequate child development and spread awareness on the importance of investing in kids from an early age. We see this championship as a great way to help Indian kids develop English language skills and a love for learning in general. This approach ties in with the philosophy behind our Child Plans which help ensure the security of a child’s future. The championship would provide an ideal and unique platform for children to showcase and sharpen their basic communication abilities while enhancing their overall development”.

Speaking on the association Mr. Karun Gera, Commercial Director Mattel said, “For more than 60 years now, families across the globe have been gathering in lounge rooms to play Scrabble. It is the world's largest selling word game with over 150 million sets sold in 30 different languages across 121 countries. Scrabble stands fun with words. Playing Scrabble helps kids to build their English vocabulary and also arithmetic as it involves scoring. Scrabble is a socially inclusive game and also helps enhance this soft skill in the kids. Mattel has always seen Scrabble as a fantastic way to encourage kids develop hard and soft skills in a fun, entertaining and socially inclusive way, and we thank Kotak Life for coming on board to help expand the reach of this classic game. This year should see more kids grappling with the spelling of hippopotamus than ever before.”

About Young Scrabble Masters Championship

The Young Scrabble Masters 2009-2010 Championship shall run over four phases and eventually reach more than 1 million kids aged between 5 and 14 years.
The first phase runs from November 19 to December 15 and sees YSM representatives visiting registered schools across 8 cities, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, to conduct screening sessions based on Scrabble Puzzles from standards 1st to 8th. This School Contact Program would enable more than 75000 kids across 8 cities to showcase their Scrabble skills and test their English vocabulary.

However Young Scrabble Masters is not simply about crowning India’s selected few from these schools. Rather the competition is seeking to promote mass participation in general and English language learning by involving more than 1 Million kids from across India by opening entries through mass media in the second phase and onwards.
The second phase will open the competition for all qualifying kids across nation by providing opportunity to register online for screening on Scrabble based puzzles. This phase would also see the use of mass media like TV, Radio and Print to drive kids to register online.

In all 1,000 kids would be shortlisted from these two phases to play for the zonals happening in 5 cities, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. Zonals mark the third phase of the competition.

From the zonals, 50 finalists will then advance to the zonal finals and then 10 kids to the grand finals. The zonal finals and grand finals have been envisaged as team events. There would be 5 teams of two from each city for the zonal finals and eventually one team of two from each city competing in the grand finals. These last two legs of the competition would be broadcast as a two part televised series on national television. Mattel and Kotak Life Insurance have ensured that there are rewards and recognitions all along the way for participating kids. The eventual Young Scrabble Master would receive a free trip to Malaysia and a work shop by a leading global Scrabble player along with trophy, certificate and a scholarship.

About Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Ltd.

http://www.kotaklifeinsurance.com

Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Ltd. is a 74:26 joint venture between Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., its affiliates and Old Mutual plc. A company that combines its international strengths and local advantages to offer its customers a wide range of innovative life insurance products, helping them takes important financial decisions at every stage in life and stays financially independent. The company is one of the fastest growing insurance companies in India and has shown remarkable growth since its inception in 2000. Kotak Life Insurance employs around 5,843 people in its various businesses and has 203 branches pan India.

About Mattel India

Mattel Toys (India) Private Limited is a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc., the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of toys and family products. The Mattel family is comprised of such best-selling brands as Barbie®, the most popular fashion doll ever introduced, Hot Wheels®, Matchbox®, Polly Pocket®, Radica® and Fisher-Price® brands, including a wide array of entertainment-inspired toy lines. Mattel is recognized as one of the 100 Most Trustworthy U.S. Companies by Forbes Magazine and is ranked among the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by CRO Magazine. Committed to ethical manufacturing practices, Mattel marks a 10-year milestone in 2007 for its ever-evolving Global Manufacturing Principles and focus on sustainable business practices. Mattel employs more than 30,000 people in 43 countries and territories and sells products in more than 150 nations. Mattel's vision is to be the world's premier toy brands today and tomorrow. In India, the company has a strong presence in the branded toys market and is committed to delivering superior quality and safe toy products with high play value.

# # #

Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance is a joint venture between Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., its affiliates and Old Mutual plc. The company is one of the fastest growing life insurance companies in India and has shown remarkable growth since its inception in 2001.