Journalism Awards for Excellence 2016 : Sunday Times wins 5 awards including Merit for Best Designed News Website

The 18th edition of the Journalism Awards for Excellence was held last evening  at the Empire Ballroom of the Mount Lavinia Hotel – the host hotel for the gala event.

The aim of the programme is to recognise professionalism in 14 categories of Sri Lanka’s print media and reward excellence over a particular year. An overseas scholarship is also offered by the Lakshman Kadirgamar Foundation to the winner of the Denzil Peiris Young Reporter of the Year.

It also honours those who have served the journalistic profession for more than 45 years with Lifetime Achievement Awards. The five recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Awards for 2016 are:

• Widana Gamage Gunerathne
• Lakshman Jayawardena
• S. A. C. M. Kuwaldeen
• Palavasam Panneer Selvam
• Gaston de Rosayro

The 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.

 Keells was the main sponsor of this year’s event along with the National Lotteries Board and the Development Lotteries Board. Other sponsors are Peoples Bank and Bank of Ceylon. SriLankan Airlines will fly the winner of the Young Reporter of the Year Award abroad for overseas scholarship.

The winners are as follows

Best Designed News Website

Merit awards 
Sinhala stream- www.lankadeepa.lk
Tamil stream - www.vidivelli.lk
English Stream - www.sundaytimes.lk

Winner
English stream - dailynews.lk
Sinhala Stream - www.dinamina.lk
Tamil - Stream - www.virakesari.lk

BEST DESIGNED NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
Winner for the Best Designed Newspaper in Sinhala  : Ravaya
Winner for the Best Designed Newspaper in  Tamil  : Thinakkural
Winner for the Best Designed Newspaper in English :  The Sunday Times

CARTOONIST OF THE YEAR
Namal Amarasinghe (Tamil Mirror)

PHOTOJOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Saman Abesiriwardana of the Divaina and The Island

SPORTS JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Merit : Roshan Pethum Sri Jayakantha Wijeratne of the Ada newspaper

Winner : Selvathurai Jithendra Presath of Virakesari newspaper

BEST ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTER OF THE YEAR
Winner : M. Aruna Lakshan Fernando of Irida Lakbima newspaper

B.A. SIRIWARDENA COLUMNIST OF THE YEAR 
Sinhala language : S. G. Punchihewa of the Ravaya newspaper
Tamil language : R. Ramkumar of the Virakesari daily newspaper
English language : Don Manu of The Sunday Times newspaper

UPALI WIJEWARDENE FEATURE WRITER OF THE YEAR  
Sinhala language : Warnaakula Pataabandege Peter Canute Perera of Irida Lakbima newspaper.
Tamil language : Thuraisaamy Nadarajah of Virakesari daily newspaper
English language :  Smriti Daniel of The Sunday Times newspaper and Isuri  Yasamin Kaviratne of the Sunday Observer

BUSINESS JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Merit : Chandeepa Malith Sehantha Wettasinghe of the Daily Mirror newspaper
Winner : Robert Antony of the Virakesari daily newspaper.

SUBRAMANIAM CHETTIAR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT REPORTER OF THE YEAR

Merit: Devika Renganathan of Virakesari weekly newspaper
Merit : Kasun Warakapitiya of The Sunday Times newspaper
Winner : Dharma Mohottal of the Irida Lakbima newspaper

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Winner : Mahendra Tharaaka Wickramasekera of the Silumina newspaper

The SEPALA GUNASENA AWARD FOR DEFENDING PRESS FREEDOM IN SRI LANKA
Winner: Prabath Sahabandu, Editor of The Island.

D.R. WIJEWARDENE AWARD FOR EARNING THE RECOGNITION OF PEERS AND THE PUBLIC
Namini Wijedasa of The Sunday Times  

THE DENZIL PEIRIS YOUNG REPORTER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Merit: Sinduri Sappanipillai of the Daily and Weekend Express

Merit : Thevarajah Virooshan of the Virakesari weekly newspaper
Winner : Rathnayake Mudiyanselage Tharindu Amila Uduwaragedera of the Ravaya newspaper

THE MERVYN DE SILVA JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR AWARD
K. Sanjeewa of Ravaya

  
​