News
17th edition of journalism awards unfolds on Tuesday
View(s):The 17th edition of the Journalism Awards for Excellence 2015 will be held on Tuesday, August 2 in the Empire Ballroom of Mt. Lavinia Hotel. The event, jointly organised by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL) and the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) is the most prestigious media awards event in the country.
A total of 229 applications from 11 newspaper publishing groups were received by the 11-member independent Panel of Judges for the Journalism Awards for Excellence 2015, said Journalism Awards for Excellence Convener Sukumar Rockwood.
Each year the winner of the Denzil Peiris Young Reporter of the Year Award receives a six-month training at MASCOM –the Journalism Training Institute in Kerala – with the compliments of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Foundation. The Awardee is flown out by SriLankan Airlines.
This year entries were received for 14 categories, which are listed below:
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, 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), and Prof. K. Kailasapathy Award for Reporting under Special Circumstances
Besides the above 14 awards, The Editors’ Guild selects senior journalists for the Lifetime Achievement Awards (gold medal) and presents two special Awards – the D. R. Wijewardene Award for Recognition by Peers and the Public and the Sepala Gunasena Award for Defending Press Freedom in Sri Lanka.
| LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS This year the Life Time Achievement Awards will be presented to the following senior journalists who have served the profession for over 40 years. NEVILLE DE SILVA – Neville de Silva started his professional career at the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd., (Lake House) where he later held several senior posts including Foreign Editor and Acting Editor. He worked in Hong Kong at The Standard and in London for the Gemini News Service. He has been a correspondent for New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, The Guardian, Le Monde, Asian Wall Street Journal, AFP and several other foreign media. He is currently a regular contributor to the Sunday Times in Colombo.  Neville de Silva PIYASENA IHALAVITHANA – Piyasena Ihalavithana was a long serving journalist at the Davasa newspaper published by Independent Newspapers Ltd., where he rose to the position of News Editor prior to moving to Lake House where he was News Editor of the Dinamina. He later joined the Irudina Newspaper published by Leader Publications Ltd., where he was the chief sub-editor until 2012.  Piyasena Ihalavithana
VEERAGATHY THANABALASINGHAM – Veeragathy Thanabalasingham joined the Virakesari newspaper published by Express Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd, as a proof reader. Having served in the Virakesari newspaper for over two decades he helped launch the Thinakkural newspaper in 1997 and became its founder Editor. The newspaper is published by Asian Media Publications (Pvt) Ltd.  Veeragathy Thanabalasingham SARATH MALALASEKERA – Sarath Malalasekera was a senior reporter at Lake House specialising in court reporting for the Daily News and Sunday Observer. Most of his courts reports were also translated into Sinhala and published in the Dinamina and Silumina of the same group.  Sarath Malalasekera PREMASIRI ABEYSINGHE – Premasiri Abeysinghe began his newspaper career at the Siyarata newspaper and worked at the Sinhala Bauddhaya, one of the oldest newspapers of Sri Lanka. In 1977 he joined Dinamina as a sub-editor and became Editor of the Budhusarana newspaper.  Premasiri Abeysinghe |