FREEPORT, N.Y., Feb. 20 - Castle Holding Corp. today announced that Castle Holding Corp.'s 2000 Annual Report has been awarded a second consecutive "Ruby'' Best of Category award by Equities/Adelphi Third Annual Gemstone Awards 2001. The Gemstone Awards is intended to highlight sparkling examples of the best in financial reporting and investor relations and are given to recognize those who excel in investor communications. George R. Hebert, President said, "This year we determined that we were capable of producing our Annual Report internally and are very proud of our accomplishment. We especially thank Proforma for their excellent performance of the printing.'' Anthony Libertella, Dean of L.I. New York's Adelphi University School of Business and Finance, honorary Chairman and academic advisor for the contest, and Associate Dean, Rakesh Gupta made the annual report entries an integral part of their graduate school's courses in financial reporting and accounting. Students: future sophisticated investors, top executives, analysts, investment professionals or entrepreneurs graded the reports for thirteen attributes including: readability, composition, educational value, graphics and corporate responsibility. After grades were composited, reports were sorted into various industrial categories and the highest scoring reports in each were given Best of Category "Ruby'' awards.