Reporter who broke news of 1971 Manamperi murder among recipients of Lifetime Achievement Award
The 24th 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 12.
The programme is organised 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, the Free Media Movement, and the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association.
The annual programme recognises professionalism in journalism and rewards those who have excelled.
This year, 36 journalists will receive the ‘Pen Trophy’ Award, and 16 others will receive Certificates of Merit, along with five Lifetime Achievement Awardees, namely: H. L. D. Mahindapala, Stanley Samarasinghe, Seetha Ranjanee, S. Thillainathan, and M. A. M. Nilam.
The recipient of the Young Journalist of the Year Award will receive the Lakshman Kadirgamar Memorial Scholarship presented by the Lakshman Kadirgamar Foundation for a course of advanced training at India’s leading school of journalism, MASCOM, managed by the Malayala Manoraman Group in Kerala. The awardee will be flown by SriLankan Airlines.
A record 354 applications from seven newspaper publishing houses were received by the distinguished 13-member independent panel of judges (print media) and the four-member independent panel of judges (online newspapers) this year, said Journalism Awards for Excellence Convener Sukumar Rockwood.
This year's entries were received for 16 print media categories and two online newspaper categories.
Print Media categories (16)
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; and Best Health Care and Medical Reporter of the Year.
Online newspaper categories (02) comprise Best Designed News Website and Best Video Story-Telling.
The main sponsors are John Keells Holdings, Aitken Spence, LOLC Finance, Dialog, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, Bank of Ceylon, and Olu bottled water. The Mount Lavinia Hotel is the host hotel.