359 winners picked from over 13,000 entries received across the country
Over Thirteen thousand colourful works of art were scrutinised to select the best child artists who created the most imaginative drawings to be honored and rewarded with cash prizes and certificates at the ‘Arunalu Siththam’ art competition conducted recently by the Commercial Bank of Ceylon.
Of these winners, the 12 young artists that topped four of the five age groups that competed in the competition received their prizes at a colourful ceremony hosted by the Bank at the BMICH.
The Bank launched the ‘Arunalu Siththam Children’s Art Competition 2021’ – the second in the series – in October last year and invited children between the ages of 4-16 under five age categories to submit drawings that illustrate the themes of ‘Our lifestyle,’ (Junior category) and ‘Gifts of nature,’ (Senior category) before 25th November 2021. The categories were Pre-school (ages 4-5), Primary (ages 6-7), Post Primary (ages 8-10), Junior (ages 11-13), and Senior (ages 14-16). The competition was open to any child, whether an account holder of the Bank or not. However, in recognition of being an existing account holder, special cash prizes are to be awarded, doubling the prize.
The child artists that took the stage at the BMICH were the First, Second, and Third placed winners in the four older age groups. These winners were presented cash prizes of Rs 100,000, Rs 75,000, and Rs 50,000 each, as per their placements.
Although not present at the event, the 25 youngest winning contestants in the Pre-school category will be awarded cash prizes of Rs 10,000 each and certificates, and another 50 participants in this category will receive Merit Certificates. Additionally, 25 contestants in each of the other age groups will each receive cash prizes of Rs 10,000 while another 50 participants in each group will receive Merit Certificates, the Bank said.
The total of 359 winners including the top three in each category as well as the winners of Awards of Excellence and Merit Awards were selected from the entries that were submitted digitally via www.arunalusiththam.lk, but only the top winners were present at the awards event, so as to ensure safety in view of the prevailing situation.
The Bank said all other winners will receive their certificates through the nearest Commercial Bank Branch and those that have won cash prizes will have their winnings credited to their respective ‘Arunalu’ accounts. A total of Rs 2.5 million in cash prizes is to be distributed among the winners.
The panel of judges for the competition included Professor Susiripala Malimboda, retired Dean of the University of the Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) who is also a member of the State Arts Council of Sri Lanka; Mrs Deepa Alahakoon, a Consultant Creative Director (Advertising) and visiting lecturer at the VPA; Mr Lal Jayasekara, Senior Lecturer and the Head of Department of Printmaking at VPA; Mr Sanjaya Seneviratne, professional artist and a graduate of VPA and Mrs Inoka Edirisinghe, art teacher at Royal College Wayamba who is also a graduate of VPA.
The vibrant awards ceremony was attended by Commercial Bank’s Group Chief Marketing Officer Mr Hasrath Munasinghe, Deputy General Manager – Personal Banking Mr Delakshan Hettiarachchi and representatives of the senior management of the Bank.
Commercial Bank launched the ‘Arunalu Siththam Art Competition’ in 2017. The flagship children’s savings account of Commercial Bank, Arunalu, after which the competition was named, offers a higher interest rate for Children’s Savings Accounts and rewards account holders with special cash prizes if they score the first, second or third highest aggregate marks in their schools at the Year 5 Scholarship Examination.
Sri Lanka’s first 100% carbon neutral bank, the first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World and the only Sri Lankan bank to be so listed for 11 years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 268 branches and 938 automated machines in Sri Lanka. Commercial Bank is the largest lender to Sri Lanka’s SME sector and is a leader in digital innovation in the country’s Banking sector. The Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 19 outlets; Myanmar, where it has a Microfinance company in Nay Pyi Taw; and the Maldives, where the Bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake.