IIM Kozhikode concluded its flagship annual management cum cultural festival, Backwaters 2010 successfully on 17 January. The event saw participation from more than 70 premiere B-Schools of the country for prizes of over Rs. 6 lakhs.  About 100 students were invited to compete for the final rounds at the scenic campus of IIMK.
 
The flagship social B-Plan event White Knight organised in association with TiE saw over a 100 entries with 8 finalists invited to the campus to present their ideas in front of an esteemed panel of judges. All the teams presented innovative and highly relevant B-Plans ranging from solutions to problems of rural electricity, drinking water, primary education and agriculture. Team Endeavors from SPJIMR walked away with the 1st prize worth Rs. 1 lakh including netbooks by Lenovo.

Labyrinth 3 – the online Treasure Hunt, organized in association with ITC and online partner Zapak, scripted another success story for Backwaters 2010 with enthusiasts across the country and abroad spending days and nights wrestling over the riddles and puzzles presented in the event. Labyrinth was solved after 5 days by IIM Indore students who became the first to enter the Hall of Fame.

The flagship event of the strategy vertical, C-Strat, organized in association with Cognizant, saw the top 6 teams compete in the on-campus round. The teams had the task of creating a viable acquisition strategy for Cognizant and the event was judged by a senior member of Cognizant Management. Team Cognoscenti (IIFT, Delhi) and Team Atlantis (SJMSOM, IIT Bombay) held 1st and 2nd positions respectively.

Beat the Market, the strategy simulation game, saw unprecedented participation, and teams from IIM Calcutta and Lucknow grabbed the top spots. Team Spartans from IIM Kozhikode won Chain Reaction, the Operations event. Other significant management events like Survivor (the creative Marketing event), Boot Kamp (the HR event), Bid2Win (the finance simulation game), Battle for IT (the IT strategy event), Mall Maul (the mall design event) and ERudite (the equity research event) generated immense enthusiasm in their respective domains. Prizes for the on-campus events included latest Netbooks sponsored by Lenovo.

This edition of Backwaters saw the in-house radio of IIM Kozhikode, K-Dio, going live online. This event was presented in association with Red FM and a huge number of students from across the country tuned in to listen to the programmes being broadcasted.  Mindspace, the online Quiz series, organized in association with Zapak.com, involved prizes worth Rs. 40,000 and saw unprecedented participation. On-the-spot events such as Point of Sale, where participants had to sell their products to earn maximum coupons, were conducted and involved prizes worth Rs. 25,000.

Cultural events like Navras (the Dance competition) and Kouture (the Fashion Show) saw passionate participation from across the country. The Rock show, Battle of Bands, presented along with Sieben, saw leading bands from all parts of India enthrall the audience with scintillating performances.

The next upcoming event from the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode is the first ever marathon for Calicut City, the IPIX Calicut Mini Marathon on the 31 January 2010. With a theme of “Be the Change” it aims to empower the youth to come up with solutions for problems that are being faced by the society. The mini marathon is of 10km and there is also a celebrity run of 3 km.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more B-school event news!