State Literary Awards 2020 announced ahead of ceremony
As many as 2565 publications of Lankan authors, published in 2019 were in competition at the 67th State Literary Awards 2020 under 40 categories. The number is the largest submitted thus far for the national literary event and it remains to be seen whether the interest generated in literature in the year preceding the pandemic, will continue.
Of this number, 2154 constituted works of Sinhala authors with Tamil literary works taking the second slot. English literature this year too lagged behind in numbers.
The date for the Awards Ceremony of this national event, remains uncertain due to the pandemic. The State Literary Advisory Board headed by Ven. Rambukkana Siddhartha Thera and the Cultural Department have however, announced the winners ahead of the Awards Ceremony.
Upali Mahaliyana is the winner of the Best English Novel for his ‘Tom Tom Boy’ and Premini Amerasinghe is the winner of the Poetry Award for ‘Tapestry in Verse’. Cheka Mendis is the winner of the Youth Literature award for ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ while Erandathi and Chethana Ellepola’s ‘Tikiri’s Big Trip’ wins in the Children’s Literature category.
Prof. Gananath Obeyesekere’s ‘Stories and Histories’ is the winner in the Academic Research section while Madhubhashini Disanayaka Ratnayake is the winner in the Novels in Translation category for ‘The Sowing Festival’ while Dinuka Wijetunga wins the Short Stories in Translation award for ‘A Few Scenes from a Missed Train’. In the Miscellaneous Subject -Social Science category, the winner is Surendra Sumithraarachchi for ‘Your Obedient Servant’.
Three eminent writers will receive the prestigious Sahithyarathne – the Lifetime Award: Namel Weeramuni (English,) W.A. Abeysinghe (Sinhala) and K.S.Sivakumaran (Tamil.)
In the Sinhala section, stiff competition was in evidence when selecting the Best Sinhala Novel with leading women novelists, vying for the top slot. Following a keen contest, Kathleen Jayawardene has been adjudged the winner with her ‘Ivuru Ganga Sindhi Giyada’. Sumudu Niragi Seneviratne’s ‘Sithuwamen Nerapu Kindurek’ wins the the Best Short Story.
There were several veterans among the winners – Sunanda Mahendra’s ‘Kalandage Lokaya’ winning an award in the Children’s Literature 11 category and Gamini Weragama’s ‘Deshiya Cinema Vamshaya’ bagging the Cinema and Rupavahini Creative Literary Works award.
Keen contest ensued in all Tamil categories. Thamaraiselvi’s ‘Uyir Vasam’ wins the Best Novel and Thatchayaji’s ‘Onbathavadu’ is the winner in the Best Short Story category.
The Best Miscellaneous award is Asai Rasiah’s ‘Vimbam-Art Book’ and the Best Drama award goes to Sellam Ambalavaanar ‘Vithai (Seed)’.
M.I. Achchi Mohamed wins the Best Poetry (Tamil) for his ‘Enadu Nilamum Nilavum’ and Nadarasa Siriranjan’s ‘Dictionary of Jaffna Tamil’ the award for Academic and Research (Tamil).