JOURNALISM AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE 2021 23rd Edition

The annual programme is to recognize professionalism in journalism and reward those who have excelled

This year 34 journalists will receive the ‘Pen Trophy’ Award and 17 others will receive  Certificates of  Merit along with 05 Lifetime Achievement Awardees

The main sponsors are John Keells Holdings, Dialog, LOLC, Sri Lanka Insurance  Corporation and Olu bottled water. Other sponsors are: Sri Lanka Cricket and Insee Cement

A total of 251 applications from nine newspaper publishing groups was received by the distinguished 8-member independent Panel of Judges this year

The 23rd edition of the annual Journalism Awards for Excellence programme culminating with the ‘Awards Night’ will be held in the Empire Ballroom of the Mount Lavinia Hotel on Tuesday, December 13.  

The programme is organized by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka in partnership with the Sri Lanka Press Institute and its affiliated unions, the Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka, Free Media Movement and the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association.  

The annual programme is to recognize professionalism in journalism and reward those who have excelled.  

This year 34 journalists will receive the ‘Pen Trophy’ Award and 17 others will receive  Certificates of  Merit along with 05 Lifetime Achievement Awardees namely: Mr. Daya Lankapura, Mr. A. D. Ranjith Kumara, Mr. P. Manikavasagam, Mrs. Chitra Weerarathna and Mr. P. B. Elangasinha. (There profile appears below).  

A young reporter will be sent by the Lakshman Kadirgamar scholarship to the leading Indian college of Journalism, MASCOM in Kerala, India. The scholar will be flown by SriLankan  Airlines. Chief Editor Manik de Silva of the Sunday Island will be the Chief Guest at the event this year.  

The main sponsors are John Keells Holdings, Dialog, LOLC, Sri Lanka Insurance  Corporation and Olu bottled water. Other sponsors are: Sri Lanka Cricket and Insee Cement.  
The Mount Lavinia Hotel is the host-hotel.  A total of 251 applications from nine newspaper publishing groups was received by the distinguished 8-member independent Panel of Judges this year, said Journalism Awards for  Excellence Convener Sukumar Rockwood.  

This year entries were received for 17 categories, which are listed below:  

•  Mervyn de Silva Journalist of the Year  
•  Scoop of the Year  
•  Investigative Journalist of the Year  
•  Best Environmental Reporter of the Year  
•  Subramaniyam Chettiar Award for Reporting on Social Issues  
•  Sports Journalist of the Year  
•  Denzil Peiris Young Reporter of the Year (Under 26 years)  
•  Photojournalist of the Year  
•  Best Designed Newspaper of the Year  
•  Business and Finance Journalist of the Year  
•  Upali Wijewardene Feature Writer of the Year  
•  Cartoonist of the Year  
•  B. A. Siriwardena Columnist of the Year  
•  Prof. K. Kailasapathy Award for Reporting under Special Circumstances  
•  Best News or Feature using RTI  
•  Best Health Care and Medical Reporter of the Year  
•  Best News Website

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS  
This year the Life Time Achievement Award will be presented to the following senior journalists who have served the profession.  

Mr. Daya Lankapura  
Mr. Daya Lankapura, has served in the media field for over 55 years. He began his  journalistic career at the Aththa newspaper as a reporter in 1966 while studying at the  Colombo University. He joined the daily Divaina editorial staff of the Upali Newspapers  Limited at its inception and served there as parliamentary and political reporter.  Subsequently, he joined Lake House briefly as the deputy editor for the Dinamina in 1994  and later associate editor, Silumina and editor of Janatha from May 1994 to May 2004. He  later accepted the post of news editor, Sunday Rivira. He also served as Night Editor,  Lakbima, News Editor, Irudina, News Editor and Editorial Adviser to Divaina. During this period he was editor of the Information Department’s web site, news.lk until July 2020. He  has followed journalism courses in the Western Ontario University in Canada, Bradford  University, Britain and the Media Training Institute in South Korea. He is currently a visiting  lecturer at the mass media section of the Sri Pali Campus of the University of Colombo.  

Mr. A .D. Ranjith Kumara  
Mr. A. D. Ranjith Kumara, held the post of Editor in the weekly newspapers of Sarasaviya and Sarasi. He has been associated with journalism for five decades especially in the field  of Cinema. He is a past student of Carey College and Ananda College, Colombo. Some of  the books he wrote include: Kosgashandiya, Gamini Hela Cinemawe Sakvithi, Rukmani  Devi Yugayaka Swarna Geethaya, Sinhala Cinemawe Ridi Rekava and Nova Paraniya Lipi  Saranaiya. He has also served as a member on the Advisory Board of the State Literary  Awards, Chief Organiser of the Sarasaviya Film Festival and the Sumathi Telefilm Festival.  At Sumathi Group of Companies, he held the post of Working Director. He has also received  the Ranapala Bodinagoda Cinema Literary Memorial Award, Cyril C. Perera Memorial  Award. OCIC Award and the Sumathipala Memorial Award. He is a historian who  researchers cinema. In 2017, he received the Presidential Award for Cinema Literature by  the National Film Corporation.  

Mr. Ponniah Manikavasagam  
Mr. Ponniah Manikavasagam known as P. Manikavasagam is a veteran journalist who  worked amidst trying conditions for Virakesari for over four decades. His reporting on the conflict from the conflict zone was trues and accurate thereby earning the respect from both the local and foreign media. He was stringer for the BBC for 25 years until the BBC Tamil Radio Service was suspended in 2016 and Reuters for 10 years. He also had filed stories as a Sri Lanka Correspondent for Asia Calling of Indonesia and American Free Speech Radio News both web radios for several years. He has also won the Northeastern Provincial Governor’s Award for journalism, the Kalabooshana Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.  

Mrs. Chitra Weerarathna  
The Island journalist Mrs. Chitra Weerarathna had her primary and secondary education at Visakha Vidyalaya, Bambalapitiya, she earned a degree in natural sciences from the Colombo University before Chitra, as she is popularly known among scribes, cut her teeth in journalism at the now defunct Sun newspaper of the Independent Newspapers Group. She joined The Island in the early 90s and quickly carved a niche in the court rounds and no court was too small or too big for her, for the subject was literally in her blood being a  daughter of late Supreme Court Justice T. A. De S. Wijesundera. On top of that two of her  sisters too had followed in their father’s footsteps. Chitra’s late husband, Dr. Susil Weerarathna was a lecturer in Chemical Engineering at the Moratuwa University.  

Mr. P. B. Elangasinha  
Mr. P. B. Elangasinha is an old boy of Dharmaraja College, Kandy. He joined Janatha  Editorial of The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd (Lake House) as a trainee reporter in  1965. He moved to the Silumina Editorial in 1970 and assumed duties as a Sub-Editor  under Mr. S. Subasinghe, Editor of Silumina. He became the Deputy Editor of Silumina in  1985. He then moved over to the Wijeya Group and joined Irida Lankadeepa Editorial in  January 1995 and is at present its Deputy Editor.