Night of shining versatility

It was a contest for young working women and for the first time for young working men to display their skills and talents and enter the field of glamour and fashion. Such was the response that we saw many educated and versatile women and men from gym instructors to doctors on the ramp last Sunday at the Hilton.

Finding two winners in two contests in one night is quite a tough task, but it was worth the wait till the wee hours of the following morning when the winners of the coveted Miss Working Girl and Man of the Year titles were announced. It was no surprise when beautiful Lanka Adikari – Sales Coordinator of DHL was pronounced the winner as she grabbed the attention of the audience from the very onset with her well modulated self-introduction.

Not only was she articulate and eloquent but presented herself with such panache and confidence that she was the personification of professionalism – a winner all the way. Lanka also emerged as Miss Personality, Miss Smoothest Skin and second runner-up in Miss Talent.

Amila Karunayake, a product development executive of Union Apparel was chosen as the ‘Man of the Year’. Manisha Jayasinghe and Shalini Weeraman were 1st and 2nd runners-up in the Miss Working Girl respectively while Dennis Perera and Sadun Saman Kumara became the 1st and 2nd runners-up of the Man of the Year contest. The winners of the Mr and Ms Photogenic title were Samanthi Wijesena and Colin Heron Lewis. The Mr and Ms Congeniality titles were won by Sajana Mudali and Anjelo Perera.

The long-drawn programme was interspersed with a haute couture fashion show by Odel, a dance performance, and jewellery show by Aura. This event was organised by the Lions Club of Thimbirigasyaya District 306 C2 to raise funds for the construction of the Sinha Suwanetha Eye Hospital at Gothatuwa New Town.

The grand show was sponsored by Aura and produced and choreographed by Lou Ching Wong. The official hair dresser was Salon Ramzi with 2nd Chance Flowers the official florist. The electronic media sponsors for the show were Swarnavahini, Sri FM, E FM, and ETV. The Sunday Times, Lankadeepa and Daily Mirror were the print media sponsors.