MANILA, Philippines -- Winners of the BPI-DOST Science Awards will gather on Monday, March 16, to celebrate the 20th year of the country?s longest-running science competition.

Organized in 1989 by the BPI Foundation, Inc., the corporate social responsibility arm of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the awards recognizes exceptional science and engineering students from partner-universities nationwide.

Nearly a hundred awardees are expected to attend the event at BPI?s head office in Makati City, which will have DOST Secretary Estella F. Alabastro as one of the guests.

The event will also coincide with the formal awarding ceremony of the winners of the 2009 BPI-DOST ?Best Project of the Year? Awards announced last January, and the book launch of Appreciating Art Through the BPI Art Collection: A Teacher?s Guide.

The guidebook serves as accompaniment to Herencia: A Legacy of Art and Progress, a collaboration of art and literati giants that contains in-depth reviews of nearly 1,000 important works of art BPI accumulated in the course of its mergers and acquisitions.

Copies of the guidebook will be donated to BPI Foundation?s partner universities and schools as part of its commitment to promote the teaching and appreciation of art history to Filipino students.

Now on its 31st year of leadership in corporate social responsibility, the foundation runs programs that empower Filipinos? talent and potential. From young scientists to sari-sari storeowners, the foundation has touched the lives of Filipinos everywhere by focusing on entrepreneurship, education, and environment.