The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka has selected five veteran journalists to be presented with the prestigious Long and Distinguished Service Gold Medal Award at this year’s Journalism Awards for Excellence programme jointly organised by The Guild and the Sri Lanka Press Institute.
This annual programme is held to recognise professionalism and recognise excellence among practising journalists. The Long and Distinguished Service Awards are presented to those who have served the profession and the newspaper industry over many decades.
The Awards Night will be held at the Empire Room of the Mount Lavinia Hotel on Tuesday, July 14. It is the 10th anniversary of the programme.
This year’s recipients of the Long and Distinguished Service Awards are;
Ms. Anula de Silva
Ms. Anula de Silva received her early education at the Girls’ School, Polwatta and later at Prajapathi Vidyalaya and Dharmashoka Vidyalaya in Ambalangoda from where she entered the University of Ceylon Peradeniya, in 1960. She later joined the Vidyodaya University where she followed a Diploma Course in Mass Communications and Literature.
While at the Peradeniya campus, she wrote a short story titled “Unmaththakayo” which was published in the Riviresa newspaper, and later published as a book.
She took to teaching, but joined the ‘Mihira’ newspaper, a children’s publication of the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd., (Lake House) in 1964. She became the editor of the ‘Mihira’ thereafter.
From 1978 to 1979 she was the editor of ‘Tharuni’ and served as the editor of ‘Sirikatha’ for the next two years. She edited other publications such as ‘Handa Mama’ (1987-88), ‘Vanitha Viththi’ (1988-95) and ‘Sisubima’ (2003-2006). She has written and translated 64 books for children.
Mr. P. Balasingham
Mr. Pararajasingham Balasingham is a BA graduate of the University of Ceylon Peradeniya and taught at Vijaya College Matale, and Zahira College Colombo, before joining the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. (ANCL), in 1961 as Colombo Central correspondent for the group.
After doing the political parties, trade unions, and trade beats, he joined the staff of ‘Thinakaran’ in 1966 and went on to become its news editor and acting editor.
He won the in-house D.R. Wijewardene prize for Good Journalism on two occasions while at ‘Thinakaran’.
He then joined the ‘Daily News’ in 1979 and served till 2005 as local news editor, associate editor and acting editor.
A Justice of the Peace, he has been the Course Director of the Diploma in Journalism programme at Aquinas College of Higher Studies, Visiting Lecturer at the Colombo University and Open University, and is Acting Director of the Sri Lanka College of Journalism.
Mr. Balasingham is the Editorial consultant of ‘The Sunday Times’.
He also served as member of the Dispute Resolution Council of the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka as a representative of the press.
Mr. Thalangama Jayasinha
Educated at Wijayawardena Mixed School in Thalangama South, Mr. Jayasinha studied Art and Sculpture at the Government Aesthetic Institute before joining the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd, (Lake House), in 1957 as an artist.
In 1980 he was appointed editor of the ‘Madura’ newspaper, and served at the helm till 1998 producing many pictorial stories for the newspapers, some of which have been published as novels, and one as a film titled ‘Saptha Kanya’.
He has written over 1,000 poems, some of them published in the ‘Silumina’ titled ‘Sunaka Deshaya’ and ‘Vinoda Vataya’ and in the Sarasaviya titles of ‘Vilambitha’ and ‘Kurumini Sandesa’.
He also contributed a popular series under the title ‘Thawath Ayurudhu Siyayakata Pasu’ in the ‘Silumina’.
In 2005 he published a book of humorous poems known as ‘Pissu Double’. He has won several state awards as well.
Mr. S. Shanmugarajah
‘Shan’ as he is best known to readers, was educated at Jaffna Central College and began his journalistic career in 1964 at Independent Newspapers Ltd., which published the popular Tamil language newspapers ‘Radha’, ‘Dinapathi’ and ‘Chintamani’.
With the closure of Independent Newspapers group in 1990, Mr. Shanmugarajah worked at Gunasena Newspapers Ltd., and the Tamil weekly ‘Soodamani’.
He then joined the country’s oldest Tamil newspaper publishing company, Express Newspapers Ltd., where he worked at the ‘Veerakesari Weekly’. He currently writes as a free lance contributor under his pen-names ‘Shan’ and ‘Shanjayan’ to several Tamil language publications.
He counts 45 years in journalism as a reporter, interviewer, reviewer and commentator on current affairs.
Mr. Louis Benedict
Mr. Benedict joined the ‘Sun’ and ‘Weekend’ newspapers published by Independent Newspapers Ltd., back in 1965.
As a sports reporter, he was assigned to cover the first Asian Ganefo (Games of Asia’s Newly Emerging Forces) in Cambodia, and later served as sports editor, foreign news editor, chief sub-editor, leader writer and senior deputy editor of the two newspapers.
He holds a Diploma in Advanced Journalism from the Thompson School of Journalism in Britain. Following the closure of Independent Newspapers Ltd., he joined Wijeya Newspapers Ltd., as a deputy editor.
Mr. Benedict is actively engaged in the People’s Movement for the Rights of Patients of which he was the founder president.
The World Health Organization and the Sri Lanka Medical Council have requested him to advise them on plans for the rational use of medicines and the revision of the code of ethics for medical practitioners.
In 2008, the Asian Blind Union appointed him to a panel to judge a world essay competition for blind people all over the world. He also lectures frequently on journalism. |
E-mail