Over 500 Children Take Part in Sunny Island Drawing Contest

Moscow, Russia, November 04, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Nationwide online drawing contest Sunny Island has passed the halfway stage, and the names of the first 40 semifinalists have been announced, each of them receiving gifts from the organizers in the form of colored pencils and customized drawing pads featuring the contest emblem. Four intermediate stages are still to come, and all youngsters are invited to take part. Choice of materials and technique is entirely up to the individual artist, and entrants are encouraged to let their imagination take flight, the only requirement being that drawings depict, in one form or another, a “sunny island.” The entries so far have been traditional oil and aquarelle paintings, crayon drawings, and computer sketches, as well as more unusual pictures created using grains of sand.

In order to take part, entrants should register before November 18 at the site of the contest, complete an entry form and upload their drawing onto the website. The contest is open to all children aged 6-12 ordinarily resident in the Russian Federation. The range of prizes includes a holiday in Cyprus for two, Apple iPads, professional art kits, cameras, and graphic tablets.

Between November 28 and December 5 a panel of judges will choose the overall winner and the runner-up, while the other prizewinners will be decided by online voting. The panel of judges includes Uniastrum Bank President Gagik Zakaryan, Banki.ru CVO Yelena Ishcheeva, as well as the celebrities Dmitri Dibrov, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Boris Grachevsky, and Tatiana Vedeneeva.

Sunny Island is a contest for children who love drawing and is also a way of enabling youngsters in Russia to discover more about Cyprus, its history, and the history of the Mediterranean in general. The contest has already drawn an enthusiastic response, and entrants have been sent a warm welcome by Cyprus’s Ambassador to Russia, Petros Kestoras, who stressed that the ultimate purpose of the contest accords perfectly with the official policy of the Cypriot Government to work to strengthen and extend the already excellent ties between Cyprus and Russia.

The Sunny Island contest is being run by Uniastrum Bank and web portal Bank.ru with support from the Cyprus Tourism Organization.

CB Uniastrum Bank LLC was established in 1994. Uniastrum is a universal lending institution offering a comprehensive range of financial products and services, with particular focus given to the retail sector and small and medium-sized business. Uniastrum is one of Russia’s Top-30 systemically important banks, as ranked by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, and places among the country’s Top-20 banks based on the size of its branch network. It is Russia’s 48th largest bank by asset size, 37th by loan portfolio value, 31st by total retail loans, and 11th by overall SME credits, according to figures released by RosBusinessConsulting news agency. Uniastrum’s financial statement for January 1, 2011 showed the Bank’s equity capital standing at Rb 9 bn. Moody’s Investors Service affirmed Uniastrum’s long-term credit rating at Ba3 with a stable outlook, while Moody’s Interfax Rating Agency affirmed its national scale rating at Aa3.ru. Uniastrum is a deposit insurance scheme participant. The Bank’s regional network currently numbers more than 200 offices (including 43 branches) in 48 Russian regions. Since October 31, 2008 Uniastrum Bank has been a member of the Bank of Cyprus Group.

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