MUSCAT, 19 July 2010 – Curtains ring down today (Tuesday 20 July) on the month-long ‘Celebrate Together’ national initiative launched by BankMuscat and Omantel in commemoration of the 40th Renaissance anniversary of the reign of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. The grand ceremony announcing the 40 winners of the campaign will be held under the auspices of His Highness Sayyid Fatik Bin Fahar Al Said, Secretary-General at the Ministry of Heritage and Culture. Dignitaries and top management teams of BankMuscat and Omantel will attend the ceremony to honour the winning children who will receive attractive cash prizes.
Anticipation is running high on the prospective winners as public voting for the winners, which concluded yesterday on www.celebratetogether.net witnessed hectic activity even as voting through SMS also continued unabated till the closing deadline. The campaign evoked phenomenal success and generated over 41,000 submissions across the Sultanate. In all, 100 paintings were selected by an expert panel for the final round. Over 8,000 paintings shortlisted by technical committees in consultation with art teachers from the Ministry of Education were displayed in exhibitions across the Sultanate to select the 100 paintings. The selection process was based on transparent guidelines prescribed by the organisers.
Recalling the remarkable progress and development achieved by the Sultanate under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, the ‘Celebrate Together’ initiative offered a unique opportunity to give expression to the perspective of a modern nation through the eyes of children. The theme of the campaign focused on the Sultanate’s achievements in the economic, social, health and educational fields and the role of the Omani citizen as the main objective of all such development. The campaign united the nation as one family to express love, admiration and appreciation to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, who has been responsible for the progress and development of Oman.
Bringing together the nation as one family and targeting at children who are the building blocks of the Sultanate, the ‘Celebrate Together’ campaign primarily revolved around an art contest aimed at instilling patriotism and nationalism in the younger generation.
A series of events, including art workshops and exhibitions were lined up as part of the ‘Celebrate Together’ initiative. Painting kits were distributed to children through BankMuscat branches and Omantel sales centres across the Sultanate, besides leading malls and hypermarkets. Country-wide exhibitions were held to display paintings from respective regions.