Best Corporate Citizens Awards

The applications are flowing in for the Best Corporate Citizens Awards 2010, being held for the 7th consecutive year and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce is gearing up for the tough selection process ahead. The awards ceremony will be held on November 3, at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel.

Prof. Mohan Munasinghe will be the keynote speaker. Prof. Munasinghe was the co-laureate of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace, as Vice Chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC-AR4). Currently, he is Chairman of the Munasinghe Institute of Development (MIND), Colombo; Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Manchester, UK; and Honorary Senior Advisor to the Sri Lanka Government.

The main objectives of the awards are to raise awareness on the importance of CSR and strategic corporate sustainability to the business community and to promote and encourage these practices amongst the corporate sector. Corporate entities must look at three-dimensions in particular; people, profit and planet - in effect, be conscious of the needs of future generations when meeting existing needs.

The following categories will be awarded this year:

* The Ten Best Corporate Citizens

* Category awards for the best performers in each of the 5 areas of evaluation - Environment, Employee Relations, Customer & Supplier Relations, Community Relations & CSR and Governance and Economic Contribution

* The 2nd runner-up, 1st runner-up and Winner of the 'Best Corporate Citizens Award' (both category A - companies with a turnover of Rs. 10b or over and category B - companies with a turnover less than 10b, will qualify for these awards)

* Three awards for organizations under the 'Less than 10 b turnover' category.

* Three awards for Best overall special project.

* Certificate of merit for all projects that achieve a minimum specified standard.

All private and public companies and government owned business enterprises are eligible to apply for the awards.