News
20th edition of Journalism Awards night on Tuesday
View(s):The 20th edition of the Journalism Awards for Excellence programme will culminate with the annual ‘Awards Night’ on Tuesday, December 10, at the Empire Ballroom of the Mount Lavinia Hotel, the host hotel for the gala event.
This year there were 313 applications for 17 categories from 37 daily and weekly newspapers in the three language streams – Sinhala, Tamil and English. Applications were also received from online websites of newspapers for the ‘Best Designed News Website, said Sukumar Rockwood, Convener of Journalism Awards for Excellence 2018.
The awards ceremony that was begun in 1999 by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka and is now organised by The Editors’ Guild in partnership with the Sri Lanka Press Institute, is the biggest media awards programme in the country.
For the first time this year an award will be presented for ‘Using Right To Information’ to write news or feature stories in all three languages.
The aim of the awards night is to recognize professionalism in the print media of Sri Lanka and reward excellence over a particular year. It also honours those who have served the profession for more than 40 years with Lifetime Achievement Awards, Mr. Rockwood said.
The five recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Awards for 2018 are: Dudley Jansz, Tilakaratne Kuruvita Bandara, A. L. K. Perera, K. M. L. B. Senaratne and Gopalapillai Thiruketharanathan.
The Editors’ Guild also presents two special awards by its own nomination at the event; the D. R. Wijewardene Award for Recognition by Peers and the Public and the Sepala Gunasena Award for Defending Press Freedom in Sri Lanka.
The sponsors for the event are: Platinum – Keells Holdings, Gold – Dialog Axiata, Silver – DFCC, SLIC, LOLC, BoC, NSB, SriLankan Airlines and Bronze – SLPA.
Lifetime Achievement Awards
Dudley Jansz
Dudley Jansz joined the Daily News as a young reporter in 1978. Within two years, he was put on the finance and transport beats. He was hand picked by veteran editor Clarence Fernando to be groomed as a sub-editor.
He was trained in sub-editing by maestros such as K. Nadarajah, George Mason and Christie Kuruppu.
Mr. Jansz was much sought after by many a reporter for his excellent editing skills and crisp headlines.
Sub-editing, general news, parliamentary copies and business news being his forte, he was invited to conduct a four-month training programme for Lake House sub-editors in 2018.
A past pupil of St. Benedict’s College, Colombo13, Mr. Jansz won the first prize in the school’s essay competition and was the editorial assistant of the Ben magazine.
He had also been a popular part-time radio presenter for almost 25 years at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation.
Mr. Jansz retired after 40 years of dedicated service at the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. where he won approbation all-round. He served both the Daily News and the Sunday Observer, reaching the pinnacle of his career as the Senior Associate Editor.
A. L. K. Perera
A. L. K. Perera began his journalistic career at the old Times of Ceylon Group in the 1970s by joining the Lankadeepa. In 1987, when the Lankadeepa came under the ownership of Wijeya Newspapers Limited, Mr. Perera joined the newspaper. He worked for the news desk and features desk of the Daily Lankadeepa and later as a sub-editor.
At the time of his retirement a few years ago, he was serving as a sub-editor of the Irida Lankadeepa. Mr. Perera has a journalistic career spanning 40 years.
Tilakaratne Kuruvita Bandara
Tilakaratne Kuruvita Bandara entered the media world in the mid 1960s. He started his career as a sub-editor and feature writer on the Janahitha, Udaya, Poda Udaya and Lassana published by the Jana Samagama Company Limited. He joined Lake House in 1970 and worked for the Janatha as a news writer and thereafter as a sub-editor of the Dinamina newspaper. Later he became its Chief Sub-Editor. 
In 1993, he was appointed as the Chief Editor of Silumina and thereafter as the Chief Editor of Sarasaviya. He was appointed as the Co-editor of Silumina in 2000 and two years later as its Chief Editor for the second time. Mr Kuruvita Bandara retired from Lake House in 2004. He had also edited the Vesak Supplement for nearly 14 years.
After retiring from Lake House, he served the Irudina newspaper as its Deputy Editor.
In 2006, Mr. Kuruvita Bandara was appointed as the founding Chief Editor of the Mawbima newspaper. In 2008 he left this newspaper to become the Chief Editor of Siyatha.
In 2010, he joined the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation as a consultant and also edited Handa, a magazine published by the SLBC.
In 2015, he returned to Lake House as a consultant editor of the Silumina.
Mr. Kuruvita Bandara, also a poet and a critic, has published seven poetry works including ‘Dewiyo Thathigena Maha Polowata Ethi’ and three prose writings. He was a member of the Sinhala drama sub-committee and the Sinhala literature sub-committee and at present is a member of the State Literature Advisory Committee.
He has served on the panels of judges at the State Literary Awards, the Swarna Pusthaka Awards, the Journalism Awards for Excellence and the Presidential Media Awards. He also served as a member of the jury panel at the Signis Cinema Awards and Sarasaviya Cinema Awards.
He has received a number of prestigious awards, including the Sri Lanka Media Awards presented by N. Ram, the then Editor of the The Hindu newspaper, for his contribution to the media field in Sri Lanka, the ‘Eminent Media’ Awards presented by the Arthasad Sanniwedana Lakshaya Society, the Suwanda Padma Golden Award and the Kalabushana’ Award presented by the Cultural Ministry.
At present, Mr Kuruvita Bandara works as a consultant of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and editor of the magazine Handa.
K. M. L. B. Senaratne
K. M. L. B. Senaratne was born in a village in Kandy. He had his early education at St. Joseph’s College in Colombo. With the Japanese bombing of Colombo during World War II, he returned to Kandy and entered Kingswood College.
At Kingswood, perhaps following in the footsteps of its founder L. E. Blaz, who was a journalist and editor, Mr. Senaratne edited a ‘student’ journal.
Mr. Senaratne who counts 63 years in journalism, is known to senior journalists as ‘LB.’ He started his career at the Times of Ceylon under Editor-in-Chief Tori de Souza. After some years, he joined the Ceylon Daily Mirror and was fortunate to click a photograph of the present King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf riding an elephant when he was in Sri Lanka as the Crown Prince of Sweden.
While in the Ceylon Daily Mirror, he went overseas and was trained as a sub-editor in two British Newspapers. Upon his return he joined the Sun newspaper as a sub-editor. He later joined the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and became its first correspondent and later the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation.
He later joined Lake House and became its District Correspondent working in Matale and later in Kandy.
He also had a short stint with the Swedish consumer project funded by the SIDA as its Information and Publicity Officer.
Mr. Senaratne received the Kalabushana Award and the Rotary Award for Excellence in Journalism. He is also the recipient of the ‘Star Award’ for journalism from the Central Provincial Council. He holds a Diploma in Journalism from the University of Colombo.
He has authored five books for children, a book called ‘Elephant Tales’ and a Tamil book on the Sacred Tooth Relic.
Gopalapillai Thiruketharanathan
A resident of Chavakacheri in Jaffna, Gopalapillai Thiruketharanathan, known to most as ‘Ketharanathan,’ after completing his education at Vaithiswara Vidyalayam, Jaffna started his career in journalism at the Virakesari newspaper during the early 1980s.
At the Virakesari, Ketharanathan worked as a clerk and translator for a short period, then joined the editorial as a sub-editor and handled mainly foreign news. He also edited local news.
Since Ketharanathan was deeply interested in the fields of literature and arts, on the reccomendation of his superiors he was absorbed into the Sunday Virakesari section under the veteran editor the late Pon. Rajagopal. There he made a contribution in writing and selecting inspiring articles in the spheres of politics, literature and arts and criticism.
Ketharanathan’s keen interest and commitment in selecting and translating the insightful writings of eminent local and foreign thinkers, observers and analysts for the Sunday Virakesari, at that time, was much appreciated by Tamil readers. He had a specific place among the Tamil writers and journalists who contributed immensely in making the Tamil newspaper readers familiar with the local and foreign alternative cinema.
Even after retirement in 2006, following a tenure of more than a quarter of a century, Ketharanathan has continued to write for newspapers and magazines on various subjects.