3 November 2017 12:00 am
The award ceremony of Roo Siththam, the annual all island art competition organized by Sri Lanka’s leading fashion destination, Fashion Bug, was held recently in two stages; Colombo and Kandy.
Over 500 children were gifted out of the record number of 65,000 entries from over 300 schools.
Initiated in 2011, with the objective of identifying the creative talents of school children, Roo Siththam is the signature annual event pertaining to Fashion Bug’s social sustainability platform SisuDirimaga, which is dedicated to improving education of students in Sri Lanka. The competition is organized under the supervision of the Department of Arts of the Ministry of Education.
Roo Siththam 2017 was open for entries under the theme ‘Together, Towards a Cleaner Sri Lanka’, under three age categories. The entries were judged by prominent lecturers from the University of Visual and Performing Arts. A new category was added this year for children with special needs, the entries of which were judged by teachers from the Ceylon School for the Deaf and Blind, Ratmalana.
The All Island winners are; Age 7-9: Colombo - K.M. Sinduli Sadogami, Kandy - Sanderu Pathirana; Age 10-12: Colombo - M. Kenul Dilmith Jayaweera, Kandy - Chanethma Devangi Marasinghe and; Age 13-16: Colombo - Diwakara Sudilapraba Suriyabandara, Kandy - A. H. F. Shamila.
The all-island winners received a special gift of umbrellas with their own drawing printed on it, along with cash prizes worth of Rs.10,000, gift vouchers worth of Rs.5,000, bicycles and trophies. All selected entries were awarded with medals, certificates and gifts. Commenting on the event, Fashion Bug Director Shabier Subian stated: “While being in the business of fashion which highlights all things beautiful in life, we at Fashion Bug also focus on developing the community we serve. Our key social sustainability platform, SisuDirimaga ensures that all projects, focused on underprivileged students will stem from one platform. Roo Siththam is part of this initiative. Through this we aim to harness the artistic talents of children and encourage them to use their creativity to take them forward.”
The award ceremony in Colombo was graced by Science, Technology and Research Minister Susil Premajayantha as Chief Guest with artists Rohana Baddage and Chamila Peiris as Guests of Honour. Deputy Minister of Mahaweli Development and Environment Anuradha Jayaratne was the Chief Guest in Kandy, and was joined by Chief Inspector of Sri Lanka Police Edirisinghe and Zonal Director from the Zonal Education Office, Kandy M. W. Wijerathne as Guests of Honour.