SCB announces winners of photography contest

A PHOTO titled "Prevention is Better Than Cure" by Hj Mohd Zailaney Hj Nordin has won the hearts of judges of the Standard Chartered Bank's (SCB) "Seeing is Believing" photo competition and announced as the grand winner.

His winning photo has depicted an elderly man against a greenery background that aimed at encouraging individuals to practice spending five minutes every morning focusing their eyes on green grass or the forest to help prevent eyesight problems.

As the grand winner, Hj Mohd Zailaney went home with a Canon EOS 1000D kit with EFS 18-55mm image stabiliser lens, Canon EOS Crumpler bag and a Canon T-shirt.

Five other top photos were also selected and received special consolation prizes from the bank. They were Manoj Ashok, Lim Yan Ling, Hj Mohd Kamarul Dzaman Hj Ajamain, Hj Mohd Sudiru Abdullah and Mohd Syafiq Hj Abu Bakar.

On hand to present the grand prize was CEO of SCB Danny Quah and Vincent Goh, Assistant General Manager of Interhouse Company who sponsored the grand prize for the competition that was held in conjunction with the World Sight Day. The ceremony was held at the bank's main branch in the capital yesterday. Also present at the event was the competition's panel of judges: Andy Ang, General Manager Premium Banking and "Seeing Is Believing" champion of SCB, an eye specialist Dr Nayan Joshi from Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha (RIPAS) Hospital, and Jan Shim of Jan Shim Photography.

SCB raised funds for its "Seeing is Believing" campaign through various platforms and actively supports the Special Education Unit of the Ministry of Education for its various sponsorship needs. The bank also supports the Brunei Darussalam National Association for the Blinds by providing the non-government organisation an office for its use.

"Avoidable blindness is a key issue in the markets where SCB operates. Ninety per cent of avoidable blindness occurs in the developing world," said Danny Quah in his welcoming remarks. This, he said, is an economic issue as well as a health issue.

"We are fortunate to have excellent healthcare services that contribute greatly in tackling avoidable blindless. Nevertheless, SCB is constantly looking for ways to engage with our community to help in this cause," he added.

"Recent initiatives by SCB include a programme to donate special glasses to those with low vision and another called 'Vision to Read', which involved our staff in sparing their time to read books to be converted into audio books. We are very proud to have donated 150 audio books to Special Education.

We thank the community for their support fpr this photo competition which we believed helped everyone to appreciate the wonders of sight," he added.

The photo competition themed "Seeing is Believing" is one of the many initiatives that SCB carries out to raise awareness on the issue of avoidable blindness, and was open for all local photography enthusiasts. The theme encourages participants of the competition to submit photo entries that encapsulate the difference that their eyesight makes to them and how they see things differently.'(ADI1)

The Brunei Times