17th edition of journalism awards unfolds on Tuesday

The 17th edition of the Journalism Awards for Excellence 2015 will be held on Tuesday, August 2 in the Empire Ballroom of Mt. Lavinia Hotel. The event, jointly organised by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL) and the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) is the most prestigious media awards event in the country.

A total of 229 applications from 11 newspaper publishing groups were received by the 11-member independent Panel of Judges for the Journalism Awards for Excellence 2015, said Journalism Awards for Excellence Convener Sukumar Rockwood.

Each year the winner of the Denzil Peiris Young Reporter of the Year Award receives a six-month training at MASCOM –the Journalism Training Institute in Kerala - with the compliments of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Foundation. The Awardee is flown out by SriLankan Airlines.

This year entries were received for 14 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 Journalist of the Year (Three Awards: Sinhala, Tamil and English), Upali Wijewardene Feature Writer of the Year (Three Awards: Sinhala, Tamil and English), Cartoonist of the Year, B. A. Siriwardena Columnist of the Year (Three Awards: Sinhala, Tamil and English), and Prof. K. Kailasapathy Award for Reporting under Special Circumstances

Besides the above 14 awards, The Editors' Guild selects senior journalists for the Lifetime Achievement Awards (gold medal) and presents two special Awards - the D. R. Wijewardene Award for Recognition by Peers and the Public and the Sepala Gunasena Award for Defending Press Freedom in Sri Lanka.