Lowa Dinana Singiththo 2009 is an All-Island school competition organized by Hatton National Bank under the directives of the Ministry of Education in order to uplift the talents of the school going children throughout the island. This includes the categories of Art, Essay Writing, Short Stories, Speech and Singing which will be held in English, Sinhala and Tamil according to the different categories represented.

Lowa Dinana Singiththo will be held in two stages which include the district level as well as all island finals which are scheduled to be held in Colombo. Every event of this competition will be judged by a panel specially appointed by the Ministry of Education. ."Lowa Dinana Singiththo was an initiative taken last year by the bank, which saw more than 150,000 participants from 9,800 schools across the island showcasing their talents. HNB being one of the leading commercial banks in the country has always been in the forefront in a national way. Ours is a bank that is firmly rooted towards the interests of the Sri Lankan people, where we have a strong commitment towards the nation and its people from all sectors of the society.

As a bank we also believe that our own sustainability firmly depends on the people of this country, therefore we always believe that it is our responsibility to help nurture its future leaders. Lowa Dinana Singiththo is a unique opportunity for the young generation to bring out their creativity skills and inbuilt talents in different areas such as Art, Music, Speech and Drama etc., and thereby help build confidence and character to face the many challenges of today's demanding world. In order to achieve this we have partnered with the premier education institute in the country which is the Ministry of Education", says Mr. Chandula Abeywickrema, Deputy General Manager - Marketing and Retail Banking of HNB.

This year with the end of the war the bank will be focusing more on the liberalized North and East areas of the country, where it hopes to receive more applications for the competition, by creating more awareness through its existing branches operational in these areas. HNB has always emphasized the importance of bringing out the talents of the younger generation in the country. Lowa Dinana Singiththo is an initiative taken by the bank which enables the young children around the country to present their talents on one platform.

Through Lowa Dinana Singiththo the bank hopes to open out more avenues to identify and bring out the hidden talents of the children and provide a helping hand for these talents to be surfaced. By doing this HNB hopes to help give birth to the great musicians, dramatists, speakers and orators of tomorrow.

"As a responsible national institution which believes in the people of this country, we want to be responsible and take ownership for and help sustain projects as such as this in the years to come", further stated Mr. Abeywickrema.

The closing date for applications for Singing, Speech and Drama will be the 3rd of July 2009 and the 17th of July 2009 will be the closing date for Art, Essay and other Short stories. The prize presentation ceremony for District Level winners and All-Island winners will be held at the BMICH with a talent show held on the 3rd October 2009 to commemorate the World's Children's Day. The All-Island Competition will be held among the district level winners and is scheduled to be held in Colombo on the 12th of September 2009 at Ananda College Colombo. Winners of the district level competitions and All-Island finals will be awarded cash prizes and certificates which will be jointly issued by HNB and the Ministry of Education.

HNB Singithi is the first branded financial product in Sri Lanka which was introduced in 1991. The birth of Singithi saw a new culture in savings particularly among school going children. Today HNB operates in more than 152 school units through which school going children are continuously encouraged to inculcate the savings habit.

Mr Chandula Abeywickrema, Deputy General Manager Marketing & Retail Banking of HNB and Mr W. Darmadasa -Additional Secretary Ministry of Education handing over a Singithi Lama Account to Miss G C Yashodara Bandara of Mahamaya Balika Vidyalaya Kandy, daughter of a disabled soldier Pradeep Lal who is also in the picture.