The future of journalism is probably in safe hands. That was the unanimous verdict after a glance through some of the 40-odd entries for Verve Dict - the magazine-making contest - at Pepsi-Verve '99.Given just five hours to come up with a 20-page magazine and a cover based on the inter-college competition, the teams managed to put together issues that could have well vied with professional mags at the stand. In keeping with the spirit of Verve, the contents were wild, wacky and witty, with eye-catching covers and visuals, giving the judges a tough time to come up with just three winners.Given the liberty of taking liberties and breaking away from the traditional magazine mould wherever needed, students unleashed their creativity as they put pen to paper and came up with hilarious pieces. One had an agony aunt column where desperate readers wrote in to ask for the location of the loos on the campus. Another instituted a `Find the dust bin' (another elusive commodity at the festival) contest, with the first prize being a stay for two nights and three days in Dharavi International. Reviews of the various competitions had gems like ``her performance was so moving that the audience moved towards the exit'' and ``the spectators found the show outstanding - everyone wished they had been standing out.''Names given to the magazines ranged from Vervopolitan to Vervacity, while the covers were colourful and arresting. The first prize was bagged by the Abhinav Kala Vidyalaya team, that took a madcap illustrated look at the festival while AIT came in second, with their neat and crisp contents supported by an eye-catching cover. D.Y. Patil College of Engineering's magazine, christened Grunge and drawing heavy inspiration from Pink Floyd's poetry, was declared third for its irreverent and witty contents that included a Khaali Peeli Poll.Then there were many who grasped the various technicalities of a magazine, giving due weightage to editorial, cover story, snippets and extensive ground work. One particular team had even taken the effort to painstakingly compile the names and numbers of all the teams participating in each and every event of Pepsi-Verve '99.All in all, Verve Dict sure added conviction to the fact that the new generation is made of the write stuff.
