Ladyville Tech student wins National Bank of Belize logo competition

The National Bank of Belize, a state-owned lending institution in the country, has a new logo.  The design is the brainchild of a first form student at Ladyville Technical High School.  After pondering the concept for several days, Douglas Ortega, along with his art teacher, came up with an outline that best embodies what the bank represents.  The sketch was later fine-tuned and then submitted to a national logo competition where it won the coveted prize.  News Five spoke with the elated winner and a representative of the National Bank.

Douglas Ortega, Winner, National Bank Logo Competition

“I feel so excited and joyful.”

Isani Cayetano

“What was the process like in terms of the creativity and thoughts that ran through your mind in order to come together with this theme?”

Daniel Ortega

Daniel Ortega

“I just read the theme, over and over and then visualized the theme on the drawing.  My teacher used to send me home and try to bring it her all the time. She said, Douglas, you need to improve more in the drawing. Go home, visualize the theme on the drawing.”

Isani Cayetano

“And that’s how you came up with the hand, the map of Belize and what appears to be the mahogany tree?”

Daniel Ortega
“…and the dollar coin.”

Isani Cayetano

“Share with us the symbolism. What does each individual item on that logo mean to you or for the national bank?”

Daniel Ortega
“The mahogany tree is representing the Belizean people and the hand is the employees of the people who have direct contact with the people.”

Katrina Young, Risk Manager, National Bank of Belize

“The reason that we had the competition in the first place was to simulate the enthusiasm amongst all high schools and particularly students for the first and only National Bank of Belize. At the same time, we also wanted to foster school spirit, team spirit as well as strengthening the artistic creativity that we have amongst our high schools. So that was the main purpose of having the logo competition. The decision was left to a panel of judges and they were looking primarily for three main criteria. The logo had to be one that reflected the goal of the National Bank of Belize; two, it has to be creative, original, a versatile logo and most of all; it had to represent what the bank is about. Our mission statement is “The people’s bank with affordable services for all.” So we wanted to capture that in the logo and Mister Douglas Ortega, the winner of the competition did exactly that.”

Isani Cayetano

Katrina Young

“How well does his logo or his symbol captures the essence of what National Bank stands for in terms of the symbolism and what it represents?”

Katrina Young

“If we do it on a scale of one to ten and the bank would support this, we would give Mister Douglas a ten. He captured it so well. If you guys got a shot of the logo, there is a mahogany tree—underneath the shade we flourished. The map is there to show that we are a bank that is there for the people. I know there is a misconception out there that it is particularly for teachers and public servants, but that is not so. It is for all Belizeans. What we do, we open the doors, we make it more affordable for those who do not have the opportunity at another banking institution to be able to, to get a loan. We are the only bank that offers a hundred percent financing; no other institution does that. And having the competition and students getting the idea that we are here for you; their parents, we are here for you; everybody. We welcome every single Belizean to come into the bank because we will work with you to get what you want to get in the end.”

Douglas Ortega won a thousand dollars for the best logo submitted in the competition.