Journalism Awards for Excellence 2015

The 17th edition of the Journalism Awards for Excellence 2015 was held yesterday, August 02, 2016 at the Empire Ballroom of the Mt. Lavinia Hotel. The event was jointly organized by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL) and the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI).

A total of more than  200 applications from 11 newspaper publishing groups were received by the distinguished 11-member independent Panel of Judges for the Journalism Awards for Excellence 2015.

This year the Life Time Achievement Award was presented to the following senior journalists who have served the profession.NEVILLE DE SILVA, PIYASENA IHALAVITHANA,VEERAGATHY THANABALASINGHAM, SARATH MALALASEKERA, PREMASIRI ABEYSINGHE

Awards were given in the following categories

• Mervyn de Silva Journalist of the Year : K. Sanjeewa (Ravaya)
• Scoop of the Year : The Sunday Times News Desk

• Investigative Journalist of the Year : Namini Wijedasa

• Best Environmental Reporter of the Year (Three Awards: Sinhala, Tamil and English) : Jagath Kumara Arachchi (Divaina)
Palamawdadege Ranwella (Rivira),  Shanmuganathan Jeyabalan (Yarl Thinakkural)

• Subramaniyam Chettiar Award for Reporting on Social Issues : Kumari Herath (Irida Lankadeepa),  Alagana Kanagaraj (Tamil Mirror),  Camelia Nathaniel (The Sunday Leader)

• Sports Journalist of the Year : Asela Withana (Divaina), Michael Silvester (Virakesari Weekly),  Tuan Samat ( The Sunday Leader).

• Denzil Peiris Young Reporter of the Year (Under 26 years) :Piyumi Kanchana Fonseka (Daily Mirror).

• Photojournalist of the Year : Eshan Fernando (ada), Amila Gamage (Merit award -The Sunday Times)

• Best Designed Newspaper of the Year : The Sunday Times, Deshaya (merit), Thinakkural Weekly(merit).

• Business Journalist of the Year (Three Awards: Sinhala, Tamil and English) -  S.S. Chandrasekar (Tamil Mirror), Chandeepa Malith  Wettasinghe (Daily Mirror), H. Seneviratne (Merit) Irida Divaina.

• Upali Wijewardene Feature Writer of the Year (Three Awards: Sinhala, Tamil and English) - Chandani Kirinde (the SUnday Times), Adilah Ismail - Merit Award (The Sunday Times).  Robert Anthony  (Virakesari), Tharanga Rathnaweera (Irida Divaina), Nimal Abeysinghe (Ravaya).

• Cartoonist of the Year : Namal Amarasinghe (Tamil Mirror), Jeffrey Kelaart (The Island), Pushparaaj Shandrasegaram (Verakesari).

• B. A. Siriwardena Columnist of the Year (Three Awards: Sinhala, Tamil and English)

Padma Edirisinghe (The Sunday Observer), Rasika Jayakody (Daily News), Narada Karunatilaka  (Rivira Sunday Edition, Kanagalingam Gopikrishna (Tamil Mirror), Alagan Kanagaraj (Tamil Mirror)

The Sunday Times Journalists who won awards at the Editor's Guild Awards seen below