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 BNU 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 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.