The grand finale of IGNITE 2021 –A huge success
View(s):The grand finale of IGNITE 2021 – All Island English Speech Contest for school children in Sri Lanka held in Hilton Colombo on March 18th. This grand event was led by the District 82 of Toastmasters International, which is the worlds leading non-profit organisation for communication and leadership development.
Close to 900 students were registered for the senior and junior categories of the contest. The first round was conducted through recorded speech video submissions and the second round was held one-on-one live via Zoom online platform. Sixteen students, eight from each category, were qualified for the grand finale. 12 soft skill development workshops were conducted in each stage of the contest for the contestants via Zoom by top Toastmasters from Sri Lanka and around the world.
The winner of the senior category was Minali Alwis Weerakkody of Musaeus College, Colombo. The first runner up was Dewmi Pbasara Dissanayake from Anuradhapura Central College, and the second runner up was Thenumi Ranasinghe from Kings Cross College, Gampaha. The winner of the junior category was M U Yoosuf of Zahira College, Colombo. The first runner up was Sethuli Nandasiri from Musaeus College, Colombo, and the second runner up was Thuhas Dinsara Thilakaratne from Lyceum International School, Nugegoda. The winners were awarded with valuable certificates, higher education scholarships from CMA Sri Lanka & GIHE Campus and other valuable gifts.
The principal objective of IGNITE 2021, supported by District 82 the main organisers with the support of the Education Ministry of Sri Lanka was to provide a guidance and a foundation to improve the English speaking and oratory skills of school children, the future leaders of Sri Lanka.
The chief guest of the grand finale was Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) Sudash Liyanage, the Region 13 Advisor of Toastmasters International who is the Head of Environmental Science Division of Hayleys Agriculture Holdings Limited. The guest of honor was the District Director of D82, DTM Noorul Munawwara, the Deputy General Manager (Projects and High-Tension Maintenance) of Ceylon Electricity Board. As an honorable guest, Assistant Director Anand Arasu represented the Education Ministry of Sri Lank. Former General Manager (Skills Management) as well as the Chief Judge and Past District Director of D82, DTM Zameen M. Saleem delivered the keynote speech in this occasion.
Main sponsors of IGNITE 2021 were Alpha Apparels Ltd, INSEE Cements & Toastmaster Sudath Fernando as GOLD Sponsors, China Machinery Engineering Corporation as SILVER sponsor, CMA Sri Lanka, GIHE Campus and Nobel Vision Institute as educational partners, EVENT TV as television partner, LAKE HOUSE as print media partner, AAT Sri Lanka, Atlas & Distinguished Toastmaster Noorul Munawwara as Gift partners joined together to enrich the all island speech contest’s inclusive experience to a greater scale.
The event was broadcasted live via PEO TV channel 20, Event TV. Also IGNITE 2021’s reach over social media engagements grasped close to 100K people attention across the country which assures next year’s IGNITE All island speech contest would be a bigger and better than it was.