Freeman Belen Contest Winners
Banilad Elementary School’s native Belen made of coconut palm and ginit and Talisay City National High School’s dome-shaped Belen made of bottoms and tops of drink cans bested 29 other Belen designs in this year’s The FREEMAN’s Light A Star Contest.
Last October 22 and 23, representatives from 31 different schools to as far as Argao came to The FREEMAN office at the corner of V. Gullas and D. Jakosalem Sts., with their cans and coconuts in order to come up with Belens using these materials.
Some also came with huge equipment used for cutting and compressors for painting. Each made their products within the allotted time of four hours, including cutting and painting.
Last November 20, representatives from our different sponsors came over to choose the top ten entries for each category.
In addition, votes from The FREEMAN readers were counted to determine which among the Belens appealed to them.The entry with the most number of votes received the Readers’ Choice Award. For the high school category, Marigondon National High School received the distinction, while for the elementary category the award went to Banilad Elementary School.
Based on the scores given by the judges, the votes from the readers, and the bonus that each The FREEMAN subscriber entry got, the following emerged as the top Belens: School categories was announced live last December 3 over at ABS-CBN’s Maayong Buntag Kapamilya.
Aside from Banilad Elementary School and Talisay City National High School, the other designs in the top three are Vicenta Manreal Elementary School which came in second for the elementary category and Guadalupe Elementary School which came in third. For the High School category, Mohon National High School came in second and Jugan National High School grabbed the third place.
The FREEMAN’s Light A Star contest is an annual design and art competition initiated by The FREEMAN in partnership with The Philippine Star, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Pang-Masa and Banat News. It aims to engage students – both from public and private schools – on more productive ways of exploring their creativity. This year is the contest’s fifth year and the first to do a Belen theme. For the previous years, the students were asked to make Parols from recycled and reused materials.
This year’s sponsors include the Department of Tourism Region 7, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Cebu Pacific Air, Smart Communications, Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., Ralfe Gourmet Chocolate Boutique, Sarrosa International Hotel and Residential Suites,Twin Bee Print Ads, 106.7 Home Radio, Cebu Parklane International Hotel, OMF Literature, ShangriLa’s Mactan Resort and Spa, Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, ABS-CBN Cebu, 96.3 WRock, Timex, Gardenia, Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu, SunSports, and Ceramikhaus of Cebu.The project is endorsed by the Department of Education.