The spectacular Innovations International Kite Festival 2003 was held at the Mt. Lavinia beach last week amidst a huge turnout of spectators.

"In my 34 years, this is the largest crowd that had ever gathered at the Mt. Lavinia beach", observed Mayor Dhanasiri Amaratunga who was the chief guest.

A special feature of the event was the participation of four foreign kite flyers from India and Nepal, who were flown in, courtesy SriLankan Airlines.

The Festival was organised by Innovations Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. and the Mt. Lavinia Hoteliers’ Association. The principal sponsors were Edna Chocolates and the co-sponsors, Sri Lanka Telecom and Mount Lavinia Hotel. The media sponsors were Upali Newspapers Ltd., and Independent Television Network (ITN).

The following were the winners:

Students category winners: S. W. Chanaka Nayanajith, U. Shehan Madushka Perera and M. B. Mahesh Priyantha Perera.

Most Creative kite with sponsor logo: Eric Wimalasiri, Leonard Gamage and Grashan Fernando.

Most creative kite with ITN logo: P. Udayantha Priyaraj Silva, J. A. Amala Ishan Perera and Srimal Indika.

Longest kite: Vishwa Aluthge, Ishanka Dilruk and P. Amila Udana Gomas.

Largest kite: G. D. Vipul Eranka Fernando, Danushka Sampath Amarasinghe, Daminda Priyankara and W. A. Densil Jayantha.

Judges: Foreign: Deepak Kapadia, Hemak Kapadia, Dipesh Thuladar and Chandra Bir Thuladar.

Local: Kusum Athukorala and E. D. Gunasinghe.

The awards were presented by: Lal Ekanayake (General Manager, Edna Group), K. Samarasinghe (Director, Edna Group), E. D. Gunasinghe (President, Mount Lavinia Hotelier’s Association), Rohan Wijesooriya (Managing Directing, Ocean View Hotel), Dananjaya Vithanage (Promotions Manager, Upali News Papers Ltd.), Lalit Samaraweera (Promotions Manager, ITN) and Rukshan Wijesinghe (Asst. Marketing Manager, ITN).