Annual Events at Beaconhouse National University (BNU)

The ninth edition of BNU’s biggest and country’s one of the most sought-after youth events, the BNU Bestival was held between March 05 and 08, 2020. The event attracted over 9000 delegates from across Pakistan. In over 30 competitions, workshops, and fun-filled social evenings, Bestival 2020 sported the timeless slogan, ‘Carpe Diem’ as the central theme to celebrate and revel in the miracle of the present. Taking a step back from the proverbial strife for greatness, the Bestival 2020 organizers nudged the participants to pay attention to the fulfillment that accompanies the profound appreciation of the simplicity, yet completeness, of the ‘now’

The socials this year included a Fashion Ramp-walk, a Sufi Night featuring hypnotic vocals by Muhammad Sammie and a mystical performance by Hamid Ali Naqeebi Qawals from United Kingdom besides a concert by the much-admired, Ali Sethi.

Workshops by Guddu-Shaani, Hamza Khan Bande, Dinyal Zafar, Sherry Khattak of Karokaram(Band) remained most well-attended.

This year’s spectacular event was made possible with the spirited and invaluable contribution of our corporate partners including Beaconhouse School System, Monark , Ali Saqlain, Cougar, The News, Comfort, Club 313 , Cup Shup , Windsor parking / WEZ, Careem, Bread & Beyond, Knapsack studio, Pepsi (Aquafina), Big Moe’s, Johnny & Jugnu, Headlines, FLOJO, Escape, Wolion Studios and The Rumorist.

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BNU’s eighth annual multi-category event, BNU Bestival '19, was held between March 14-17, 2019. Organized by the student body under the aegis of the Directorate of Student Affairs and External Relations, this year’s edition hosted over 3000 participants from across Pakistan in competitions and skill-based workshops. The crowd-pulling social evenings attracted an audience of around 13,000 young people from all over the country.

Bestival’19 featured 30+ competitions in the broad categories of the Arts, Fashion, Music, Drama, Performing Arts, Literature, Media and Sports. On the first day of the event a Fashion Show was held which was sponsored by the popular women’s brand ‘BTW’. On the second day a Sufi Night was organized where renowned Qawwal Asif Ali Santoo, Alhamra Unplugged and BNU Music Society mesmerized the crowd with their spellbinding performances. On the third day, Josh the Band jazzed up the evening with their rip-roaring concert. On the fourth day an awards night was held to honor the winners of the competitions. University of Central Punjab bagged the Best Team Trophy while participants from Punjab University, FC College, Concordia Colleges, NTU and Lahore Grammar School won awards in different categories. Heads of competitions presented awards to the winning teams.

Vice Chancellor, Mr. Shahid Hafiz Kardar graced the awards’ night and heartily acknowledged students’ efforts in creating bonhomie among the youth of the country. Executive Director, Student Affairs and External Relations BNU, Mr. Zaeem Yaqoob Khan presented shields to the event sponsors and partners.

This year’s Bestival was based on the theme of “Eudaimonia”, a symbolic representation of personal happiness and inner peace. Based on this philosophy, the students aspired to 'give happiness a whole new form'.

The grand extravaganza was made possible with spirited and invaluable contribution of corporate partners including Beaconhouse School System, Pak Suzuki, SAMSUNG, BTW, Joyland, House of Shazia Cheema, Cosmo Salon , Gourmet, FM 91, TEAM CLEAN, Careem, The News, City 42, knapsack, Impresario, Shutter 160, Bread and Beyond , Al Hamra Unplugged, Windsor Parking, Weekend magazine, Live wires, Khazana box, Crosta 11, Project g, Hotel one, Graphicar, Plan 9, Printfinity, Tune.pk, Good luck flour Mills , Car helpline, Pak. Arm wrestling federation, Pak. Table tennis federation, Daftarkhuwan, Ebuzz, Nikon and Keune.

The seventh annual multi-category competition, BNU Bestival '18, organized by the student body of Beaconhouse National University (BNU) under the aegis of the Directorate of Student Affairs and External Relations, was held from March 1-4, 2018. This year’s edition hosted over 2000 participants, competing in 25 different categories. Our audience consisted of over 8,000 people, from all across Pakistan.

The four-day event featured 25 competitions including dramatics, art of motion, thematic art, photography, sports (table tennis, volleyball, futsal, arm wrestling, chess), gaming, fashion & jewelry design, music (individual singing, rap-battle, instrumental, battle of the bands), video-production and many other competitions. Social events included Qawali Night, workshops, concert by Ali Sethi, fashion show, carnival and an award ceremony.

The sixth edition of annual multi-category competition, BNU Bestival '17, was held from February 23-26, 2017.

The fifth annual multi-category competition, BNU Bestival '16, organized by the student body of Beaconhouse National University (BNU) under the aegis of the Directorate of Student Affairs and External Relations, was held from March 3-6, 2016. This year’s edition attracted up to 1500 participants, the most in the history of Bestival.

The four-day event featured 22 competitions including dramatics, art of motion, thematic art, photography, sports (table tennis, volleyball, futsal, arm wrestling, chess), gaming, fashion & jewelry design, music (individual singing, rap-battle, instrumental, battle of the bands), video-production and many other competitions. BNU Debating Society (BDS) organized a Bilingual Declamation Contest during this Bestival under the name “Debaacha.” The contest was sponsored by the Youth General Assembly of Pakistan. Another competition that attracted a lot of interest was Start-Up Now. Aimed at initiating business ideas that haven’t been introduced before, the competition had two categories; Entrepreneurship (for start-up ideas related to anything) and Technopreneurship (for tech based start-ups only). Plan9 was the official partner of Start-Up Now and winner of Technopreneurship category got a WILD CARD entry into Plan9 Launchpad 8 Finale.

Bestival ’16 witnessed a record participation from different schools, colleges and universities from all over Pakistan. Social events included Qawali Night, concert by Noori, fashion show and an Award ceremony. University of Central Punjab grabbed the Best Team Trophy for the third consecutive year while participants from LUMS, NCA, UMT, Punjab University, BZU, GIKI, FCC, University Of Lahore, ITU SZABIST, NCBA, Beaconhouse and Lahore Grammar School won awards in different categories. Vice Chancellor BNU, Mr. Shahid Hafiz Kardar, Director UMISAA, Mrs. Salima Hashmi, and Director Student Affairs and External Relations BNU, Mr. Zaeem Yaqoob Khan presented awards to the winners and runners-up.

Since BNU Bestival turned 5 this year, the event adopted the theme of “Quintessence” in order to pay tribute to the five elements (air, earth, water, fire and void). The grand spectacle was made possible with the help of our esteemed sponsors and partners; including Unilever (Lux, SurfExcel, Lipton, Rafhan, BlueBand, Brookbond Supreme), Huaweii, Beaconhouse School System, Engine Clothing, Gourmet, Bode evolution, NIKON, Turkish Airlines, QMB (Qaiser Mukhtar & Brothers), Stallion Corp., Plan9 Tech. Incubator, Depilex & Beauty Hooked, Pakistan Table Tennis Federation, Pakistan Arm-wrestling Federation, travel partner Travly, Gaming Partner Cyborg Gaming, and Media Partners City42, The News, City FM89, EBUZZ, CAMBIAR NEWS , and TUNE.PK.

The fourth annual multi-category competition, BNU Bestival '15, organised by the student body of Beaconhouse National University (BNU) under the aegis of the Directorate of Student Affairs and External Relations closed on February 22, 2015.

This year the four-day event featured 20 sub-competitions including Technopreneurship, video-production, table tennis, thematic art, stand-up comedy, rap-battle, ramp jewelry, poetry and prose, photography, individual singing, instrumental music, journalism, gaming, futsal, dramatics, fashion design, debates, battle of the bands, art of motion and arm wrestling. The latest categories to be included in the Bestival were the Plan9 Technopreneurhsip Competition, Instrumental Music and Rap-battle.

As many as 900 participants from different educational institutions and student organisations participated. These included AIESEC, Care Foundation, Planeteers, Aitchison College, UET Lahore, FCC, FAST-NU, NUST, LGS, SICAS, LSE, the Beaconhouse School System, UMT, LUMS, NCA, PIFD, Agriculture University Faisalabad, NTU Faisalabad, GIFT, SZABIST, Lahore ALMA, LAS, UOL, UCP and BZU Lahore Campus to name a few.

The participants also attended daily social gatherings featuring Jal the Band, Sky Lit-up, a fashion show and a drama night. The event was supported by Plan 9 Technology Incubator of the Punjab Information Technology Board, Pak-Suzuki, the Beaconhouse School System, Turkish Airways, Air One, Pakistan Table Tennis Federation, Pakistan Arm-wrestling Federation, The News International and FM89 radio channel.

Bestival 2014, held at Beaconhouse National University from 27th February till 2nd March, 2014, attracted a record-breaking number of participants of up to 500 students, the most in the history of Bestival. Participants from eighteen different educational institutes participated in the four-day event; including students from National College of Arts, University of Central Punjab, University of Lahore, SKANS, Lahore School of Economics, Punjab University, Beaconhouse AlTJ, LACAS, LGS Paragon, LGS 1A1, City School, ZABIST, SISA, FC College, UET, PIFD, COMSATS and STEPS.

Bestival is a student-driven multi-category event that features different competitions related to media, literature, performing arts and design, sports and gaming. This year, the competitions include Arm Wrestling, Art of Motion, Battle of the Bands, Individual Singing, Dramatics, Fashion, Ramp Jewelry, Futsal, Gaming, Journalism, Photography, Film Production, Stand-Up Comedy, Table Tennis, Thematic Art and BNU MUN. Some of the esteemed personalities who judged these competitions included Jawad Ahmed, Saleem Kashmiri, Abid Ali, Eram Bukhari, Abrar Cheema, Adnan Jahangir, Rana Faizan Ali and Akbar Bajwa, Rabbiya Naseer, Urooj Samdhani and Salman Shahid, Dawar Lashari and Waleed Zaidi, and Amna Ajmal and Irfan Ali.

Besides competitions, a number of workshops were also organized during Bestival 2014. Three faculty members of BNU including Ms. Rabbiya Naseer, Prof. Wajahat Masood and Ms. Claire Pamment conducted workshops on theater, journalism and dramatics.

The four-day extravaganza also included a lit-up activity, fashion show, concert by Roxen, drama night, and a carnival. The closing ceremony was held on the last day of the Bestival where trophies were awarded to 34 winners, 17 runner ups, and a Team Trophy to UCP.

Held under the patronage of Directorate of Student Affairs and External Relations, Beaconhouse National University, Bestival 2014 was sponsored by Pak Suzuki Motors, Beaconhouse School System, and Sufi (Hamza Foods Pvt Ltd). Partners included Pakistan Arm Wrestling Federation & Pakistan Table Tennis Federation as Official Partners, Easy Taxi as Travel Partner, Crashpad as Gaming Partner, Salon Y as Glam Partner, Planeteers as partner in the Lit-up activity, The News as Exclusive Media Partner, City FM 89 as Radio Partner, Taste Pakistan as Magazine Partner and Dispatch News Desk as Online Partner.

The Bestival 2014 brought together the youth from different institutions and encouraged healthy competition in order to stir a spirit of camaraderie between them. The theme of this year’s Bestival was “Superheroes.” Starting from the Greek and Roman superheroes like Hercules and Odysseus till the more recent comics based like Superman, Batman, and Iron Man; all superhero fables projects the victory of good over evil. By projecting this theme, students of BNU urged the youth of the country to awake their inner superhero and to discover their true potential.

The BNU Bestival 2013, held between 7th and 10th March 2013, was based on the De Stijl art movement. It included a string of events and a number of co-curricular competitions, spread over a span of four days. It allowed students, from across several institutions, to showcase their latent skills, engage and interact with a wide variety of people from diverse backgrounds as well as build in themselves the spirit of camaraderie and sportsmanship through healthy competition. The event was hosted at the Tarogil campus.

The Bestival13 social events included a Carnival, Concert by Overload-the band, Fashion Show and Ramp Jewelry Exhibit and a Drama Night. The activities also included workshops by Mr. Bilal Tanweer (Creative Writing), Mr. Wajahat Ali (Blogging), The Videographers (Video-making) and Mr. Rajab Ali Syed (Photography).

The event had participation of over 350 students from Beaconhouse School System, National College of Arts, University College Lahore, Lahore Grammar School, University of Lahore, University of South Asia, KIMS, Institute of Business and Finance, The City School, Lahore University of Management and Sciences, SISA, Forman Christian College, GIFT University, University of Central Punjab, University of Punjab and the Lahore School Of Economics amongst others.

Beaconhouse National University’s first ever multi-category co-curricular competition; the BNU Bestival 2012 was held between 24th and 26th of February 2012.

The Bestival’12 was spread over three days and turned out to be an exceptional, one of a kind experience that the students from participant institutions not only enjoyed but also learnt from. It successfully proved to be a platform for talented amateurs who displayed their latent skills before a renowned panel of judges including; Salman Peerzada, Zia Ahmad, Ali Zeeshan, Kyla Pasha, Ilona Yousaf, Jawad Haroon, Javaid Shaida, Shehnaz Muzammil, Shamayl Qureshi, Omar Sohail, Yousaf Ramay, Aiza Mehmood, Zeeshan and Sibtain. The event provided a forum for student interaction across institutions, student collaborations along with promoting student culture. The events included a photography workshop by Mobeen Ansari and Malcolm Hutcheson, a poetry workshop by Huma Safdar and, a motivational and inspiring talk by Moin Khan of “A Different Agenda”.

Besides competitions, three social events were held on the three evenings of the Bestival’12 including; a carnival featuring stalls and joy-rides, a concert by local folk artists along with DJ Shahrukh and a Tissue-dress ramp-walk day. The highlight of the third day was the Drama Night with mime performance by Char Gram Society, host team of BNU and a grand finale by qualifying dramatic teams from participant institutions.

Teams from over 20 institutions including Lahore College For Women University, University of Lahore, Aitchison College, Beaconhouse School System, Forman Christian College, National College of Arts, Kinnaird College for Women University, Lahore School of Economics, National University-FAST, NUST and Multan College of Arts took part in the events.

Among the 12 competition categories, University of Lahore clinched the overall champions’ award of BNU Bestival’12 with successes in Short Films and Dramatics competitions. Aitchison College stood the overall runner-up in all categories. LSE prevailed in Volley Ball and Futsal. Team KIMS and Kinnaird College for Women University won the Table Tennis competition for boys and girls respectively. Rashid Lateef Medical College took the award in the Poetry Competition. Debates were won by FAST-NU, Photography by Multan College of Arts, Anti-Ad by Aitchison College, Journalism by Lahore Alma, Fashion by SISA and Battle of the Bands by Keray Makoray-the Band.