Eagle Insurance has recognized two renowned Sri Lankan artistes - Ms Sybil Wettasinghe and Ms Nanda Malini recently for their contribution to Sri Lankan literature and music.

The full house at BMICH stood up and applauded as they walked up to receive the Eagle Award of Excellence from the Managing Director.

Four years ago, Eagle Insurance inaugurated these awards to honour eminent personalities in the field of arts, as yet another CSR initiative. The awards were presented at the Eagle Annual Convention in the presence of the Eagle’s field staff - the "Team with Wings", top , management and senior executives.

Presenting the award to the internationally recognized book illustrator and writer Sybil Wettasinghe, Eagle’s General Manager-HR, referred to her illustrious career over the past five decades. She wrote her first children’s book "Kuda Hora" in 1952. Many years later it was translated to Japanese and won its first award at the Bolongna Book Fair.

The book is being read in at least 13 countries today including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the United States, China, Korea and South Africa - a unique achievement for a book written in Sinhala. In 1986 "Kuda Hora" was presented the Best Foreign Children’s Book award in Japan. She also writes children’s stories in English too. One of them - "Hoity the Fox" won two awards in Japan - one by the Ministry of Education and the other by the Ministry of Culture. Another, "Strange visitors to the Cat Country" won a French Award for children’s books. "Matt Gedera Lamai" won the state Literary Award for Juvenile Books in 1992 and the English version of the autobiographical Novel "Vanian Kalu" titled "The Child in Me" was the winner of the prestigious Gratien Prize in 1995.

The lady in white, Nanda Malini listened intently as her citation was read out tracing her career from the age of 13 when she won the Best Playback Singer’s award at the inaugural Sarasaviya Film Festival in 1964, for her singing in ‘Ran Muthu Duwa’. In the 1960s as a Grade One radio artiste, she had to present a half hour programme every month. This meant looking for new compositions all the time. It was not easy to locate lyric writers and get recognized musicians to compose the melodies. She had no choice but to try and do it herself. The first attempt was a tremendous success. The song "Sakura Mal" became very popular. It gave her courage and determination to continue.

Her creations are well preserved. She has been releasing an audio cassette every year for the past 25 years. They are fine compositions, the words are so meaningful and they are so beautifully sung. They are also a varied selection.

She is always on the lookout for fresh talent and is keen to build up a new generation of musicians. Not so long ago she invited amateur lyric writers to send her their creations. She selected 12, sang them and released a cassette titled "Araliya Landa". "Malata Renu" was another where 16 creations of amateur melody-makers were presented.

Eagle felicitated maestro Premasiri Khemadasa and dramatist Henry Jayasena last year. Earlier, Dr Lester James Peries, Pandit W D Amaradeva, the late Chitrasena and Vajira received the Eagle Award of Excellence.

Through the Eagle Award of Excellence, the company’s objective is to recognise personalities who have been always committed to excellence and professionalism. The selected persons are those from whom others can learn and be inspired. The Award also demonstrates Eagle’s commitment as a good corporate citizen.

Eagle’s commitment to CSR was acknowledged when the company was hailed last year as one of the ten Best Corporate Citizens in Sri Lanka for the second successive year by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. In 2005, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) adjudged Eagle as the overall first runner-up for the Corporate Governance disclosures and the overall third runner-up for Corporate Responsibility reporting. This signifies the unwavering emphasis on good corporate governance while commending its honesty, integrity and total transparency as a socially responsible company and its firm commitment to achieving excellence in the insurance field.