Sunday Times 2
All set for print journalists’ show of the yearVeterans honoured with Lifetime Achievement Awards
View(s):The 16th Journalism Awards for Excellence 2014 ‘Awards Night’ will be held on July 28 at the Mount Lavinia Hotel.
A record 250 entries were received this year under the annual Journalism Awards for Excellence Programme
Jointly organised by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL) and the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI), the industry driven awards programme received a record 250 entries from print media journalists for the 14 categories of awards (see box). The awards programme, first begun by The Editors’ Guild in 1998, aims at recognising and rewarding excellence in journalism.
From left: Binoy Kumar Wickrama Surendra, Latheef Farook, Nihal Ratnaike, Saranapala Pamunuwa and S. Thillainathan
M. Nihal Seneviratne, Chairman of the Dispute Resolution Council of the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka, will grace the occasion as the chief guest. Mr. Seneviratne was a former Secretary General of Parliament.
Mount Lavinia Hotel is the host Hotel for the Awards Night.
Besides the 14 categories of awards, The Editors Guild selects five senior journalists for the Lifetime Achievement Awards, the D.R. Wijewardene Award for Recognition by Peers and the Public and the Sepala Gunasena Award for Press Freedom.
The Life Time Achievement Awards for 2014 go to: Binoy Kumar Wickrama Surendra, Latheef Farook, Nihal Ratnaike, Saranapala Pamunuwa, S.Thillainathan. See article on right for a pen sketch of these journalists.
After his formal school education, Mr. Surendra entered the Indigenous Medical College, Rajagiriya. His father wanted him to be a doctor in western medicine or Ayurveda. He did not like becoming a doctor in western medicine and opted to study Ayurveda. While studying at the Ayurveda Collage he took an interest in journalism. He joined the Davasa Group of newspapers as a freelance Journalist. While working for Davasa during the Editorship of D. B. Dhanapala, he became a sub editor of the evening newspaper, Savasa.
In May 1966, he moved over to Lake House. When he retired in September 2000, he had clocked 34 years on the editorial staff of the Dinamina. While working for Dinamina, he held the positions of Sub Editor, Deputy Editor before he became co-Editor. He has also acted as the Chief Editor.
During his career, he had the honour of working under eminent personalities such as Dharmapala Wettasinghe, Edmund Ranasinghe, S. Subasinghe, T. B. Peramunathilaka, P. S. Perera, W. B. Meththananda, Sarath Cooray and Deltota Chandrapala.
After he retired from Lake House, he worked as Deputy Editor of Irudina for eight years.
Latheef Farook
Mr. Farook began his professional career with the now defunct Independent Newspapers Group in 1966 before joining Lake House where he worked with the Ceylon Daily News and the evening daily, Ceylon Observer from 1971, covering local politics and foreign affairs besides finance and economic sectors.
In 1976, Ceylon Daily News nominated him for the United Nations sponsored Dag Hammarskjöld scholarship.
In 1979, he led a group of Sri Lankan journalists to Dubai, re-launching the Gulf News before joining the Khaleej Times a year later. In 1987, he rejoined the Gulf News where he worked as the Bureau Chief in Bahrain.
On his return home in 2003, he launched the South Asia News Agency in Colombo supplying feature articles on almost every aspect of Sri Lanka. His articles are aimed mainly at Sri Lankan expatriates in the Gulf region, Europe, the Americas and the Far East.
He is the author of the book ‘War on Terrorism -The Untold Truths’ published by the Malaysia-based Strategic Information and Research Development. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamed wrote the foreword while the book also attracted comments from well-known British playwright and Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter.
He has written several books and to name a few: Nobody’s People – The Forgotten Plight of Sri Lankan Muslims, America’s New World Order – Exporting Wars, Muslims of Sri Lanka – Under Siege and Mayhem During Curfew, which is a collection of selected articles.
During a recent lecture in the UK, he was honoured by the Sri Lankan Muslim Cultural Centre (SLMCC) in the London Borough of Harrow for his journalistic services highlighting the need for communal harmony in Sri Lanka.
Nihal Ratnaike
Mr. Ratnaike began his journalism at the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited, (Lake House) as a staff reporter on the editorial staff of the Ceylon Observer and Sunday Observer in 1952.
In the 1960s, he moved to the Daily News as a feature writer; wrote among other things, a weekly column on the theatre and the arts under the byline ‘Kala by Viranga.’ He was appointed Features Editor and he later rose to be the Deputy Editor of the Daily News. He left Lake House with the change of government in 1977 and worked for Harris Hulugalle’s weekly newspaper – Focus – for a year.
He then moved to The Island as a feature writer for a short time and later in 1996, he re-joined Lake House as Associate Editor and later became the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily News.
In 1998 he was appointed Chief Administrative Officer (Editorial) at Lake House and remained in that position until 2001.
He joined the Sunday Standard, a new English language newspaper, as a Consultant Editor and worked there from 2001 to 2005.
In 2007, Mr. Ratnaike was appointed Director Editorial of Lake House and he resigned in 2010.
Saranapala Pamunuwa
Mr. Pamunuwa was born at Pamunuwa in Maharagama. He began his journalistic career after completing his secondary education.
Since his interest was in drama, he used to organise short plays during the National New Year and Vesak. He also participated in Sompala Gunadeera’s programmes at the then Radio Ceylon. One such programme was “Muni Siripa Kara Pinipa.” He also took part in a number of other radio programmes such as “Vishwa Sahithyaya.” He later produced his own dramas. Yakage Wade, Deyyo Dani Man Nodani, Amma Budu Wewa from Susasoma Jathakaya and Vessanthara Jathakaya with the support of the youth in his area and at the Dharma Sri Vardhanaramaya in Devala Road, Pamunuwa were some of his dramas.
With his experience in photography he held an exhibition at the Kala Bawana in Colombo: ‘Blood, Sweat and Tears’. He has also participated in several photographic exhibitions in India, Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok.
He was one the founder staff members of the Aththa newspaper in 1964. In 1972, he joined the Divaina newspaper as a photographer.
Mr. Pamunuwa has also won several awards during his illustrious career, among them the Photographer of the Year Award presented by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka.
S. Thillainathan
Kalabushana S. Thillainathan joined Virakesari in 1962 as a reporter and became chief reporter before joining the Davasa Group. He then joined the SLBC’s news division and left as Senior News Editor in 1989.
In 1994, he was appointed as the Founder Programme Manager for the first private Tamil language Radio Station FM99 started by veteran broadcaster Livy R. Wijemanne. He later went on to head all three language segments of the news division.
‘Thillai,’ as he is better known, then joined the ITN’s English and Tamil language programme divisions before being recruited as MTV’s Shakthi FM/TV News Manager.
He also had a stint in advertising, working as a Senior Copy Writer at Phoenix – Ogilvy and later worked as Consultant at Young Asia Television. He is also a freelance writer for newspapers. In addition, he handled political programmes for ITN’s Vasantham TV.
‘Thillai’ was the Chief Editor of Thinakaran published by the Associated Newspapers Ceylon Limited.
Mr. Thillainathan was trained in news and current affairs at Bush House, the headquarters of the BBC and underwent training in news reporting in Malaysia by the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union. He also underwent training in West Berlin in advanced 0journalism conducted by the Institute of Advanced Journalism and received training in trade union journalism at the New Delhi’s Trade Union College.
Mr. Thillainthan has written three books. The most recent publication was his fifty years’ experience as a Lobby Correspondent. He wrote this book in Tamil and Sinhala.
14 categories of awards:
- Mervyn de Silva Journalist of the Year
- Scoop of the Year
- Investigative Journalist of the Year
- Best Environmental Reporter of the Year
- Subramaniyam Chettiar Award for Reporting on Social Issues
- Sports Journalist of the Year (Three Awards: Sinhala, Tamil and English)
- Denzil Peiris Young Reporter of the Year (Under 26 years)
- Photojournalist of the Year
- Best Designed Newspaper of the Year
- Business Journalist of the Year (Three Awards: Sinhala, Tamil and English)
- Upali Wijewardene Feature Writer of the Year (Three Awards: Sinhala, Tamil and English)
- Cartoonist of the Year
- B. A. Siriwardena Columnist of the Year (Three Awards: Sinhala, Tamil and English)
- Prof. K. Kailasapathy Award for Reporting under Special Circumstances