DS Students Brand Awards 2015

By Shannine Daniel 

DS Students Brand Awards took place for the third successive year at the BMICH and a total of 20 awards were given away to students and companies.

This is the only Brand Awards Ceremony in the country which is organised by a school, put together by the Commerce Society of D.S. Senanayake College. 

The theme for this year’s D.S. Students Brand Awards was ‘Innovation, Empowerment and Integrity’.

“It is not easy for a Commerce Society to organise a Brand Awards but rather than simply hosting a mere Commerce Day, what we had in mind was to do something different,” said Commerce Society President Nimanga Senanayake.

“We see many Brand Awards but never a Student Brand Awards, but the opinion of students actually matter and DS Student Brand Awards is the result of this thought process,” commented Senanayake.

The first category of awards given was the in school competitions awards which included a Quiz competition, Essay competition, and an all island Business Management competition. 

In the Quiz competition Ananda College, Isipathana College and Nalanda College were placed first, second and third respectively. In the Essay competition Nalanda College, Museaus College and Isipathana College were placed first, second and third respectively. In the Marketing Promotion Competition Ananda College received second place while Museaus College was placed first.

For the Business Management Competition the Commerce Society of D.S. Senanayake College invited other schools to submit a plan which represented an ideal approach to start a business.  Out of more 200 plans received, merits were given to Ananda College, Isipathana College, Carey College, Anula Vidyalaya, Museaus College and Jaffna Vembadi Girls High School. 

Jaffna Vembadi Girls High School received scholarships from Horizon Campus for best performance in this competition along with those who were awarded first place in the other school competitions. In total 10 scholarships were given away at the ceremony with a special scholarship given to the teacher in charge of the Commerce Society of D.S. Senanayake College Champa Nirmalani De Silva. 

“It is a privilege to be associated with D.S. Senanayake College and D.S. Brand Awards 2015,” stated Horizon Campus CEO Ajitha Wanasinghe. 

Wanasinghe went on to say that from a commercial perspective, being a complete student is more important than merely being a smart student. The exposure and the experience gained by organising events like this are important to become a complete student. 

“It is no doubt that the experience of today’s event will no doubt take them in their future to an event of great heights by becoming responsible citizens of this country,” he added.

The second, third and fourth award categories consisted of corporate awards category. The second category The Student’s Bank of the year was awarded to Sampath Bank, Student’s Insurance of the year was awarded to Ceylinco, Student’s Fashion provider of the Year was awarded to Nolimit, Student’s Food Brand of the Year was awarded to Kottu Mee and Student’s Professional Institute was awarded to Institute of Chartered Accountants. 

In the third category The Student’s Hotel of the Year was awarded to Kingsbury and the Student’s upcoming Photographer of the Year was received by Wide View. 

The Student’s Beverage Brand of the Year was received by Milo, the Student’s Photographer was awarded to Xtream Youth, the Student’s Educational Program of the Year was awarded to Tokyo Cement School Quiz Season 2, the Student’s FM Channel of the Year was received by Hiru FM, the Student’s Newspaper of the Year was received by The Sunday Times, the Student’s TV channel of the Year was awarded to Swarnawahini, with Student’s News program of the Year being awarded to Live at 8. 

The Student Entrepreneur of the Year was awarded to Jaffna Vembadi Girls High School and finally the Student Brand of the Year, which defines the DS Student Brand Awards, was given to Milo. 

Two Honorary Awards were awarded at the ceremony as well. The first was given to D.S. Senanayake College’s former Principal Asoka Senani Hewage, for his years of leadership and commitment within the school and for taking measures to bring in Business Studies in English medium for the O/L curriculum. The second was awarded to Janaka Bodaragama, an active businessman in the country and a strong supporter of DS Student brand Awards since its inception. 

Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe