The Sri Lanka Journalism Awards for Excellence[1] is an awards ceremony held annually in Sri Lanka to recognize the achievements of print media journalists working in the country’s three main languages – Sinhala, Tamil and English.
Applicants who do not win a category but have satisfied the standards set by the panel of judges receive merit awards which are only certificates.
The Journalism Awards Programme was inaugurated in 1999 by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL) following the “Colombo Declaration on Media Freedom and Social Responsibility.”[2] In 2004, the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) was established and from then on, the Awards Night was jointly organized by TEGOSL and the SLPI.
To be considered for an award, the qualifying work should have been published in a Sri Lankan newspaper between January 1 and December 31 of the preceding year.
To qualify for awards, the applicant should be a full-time journalist, a journalism student doing an internship or someone who had a minimum of ten articles published in a newspaper during the previous calendar year.
[4] The organisers announce the application deadline in media and also on the Sri Lanka Press Institute website.
Along with the newspaper articles, candidates are required to submit an application form which can be downloaded from the Sri Lanka Press Institute website.
Two years later, journalists from the Leader Group of Publications resumed taking part in the programme as some regulations were changed.
Kariyakarawana Jiffry Yoonus Annaluxmy Rajadurai L. E. Samararatne Elmo Gooneratne T. M. Murugiah S. Pathiravithana Motagedara Wanigaratna Hema Gunawardhana Lesley Dahanayake A Sivanesaselvan D.C. Ranatunga Sriya Ratnakara, N.R.J.
Sivagurunathan P. Balasingham Louis Benedict Thalangama Jayasinha S. Shanmugarajah Srilal Kodikara Arthur U. Amarasena M. V. Kaanamylnathan M. S. M. Mansoor S. M. Gopalaratnam Bandula Harischandra Sarath Cooray Kandiah Nithyananda Sybil Wettasinghe S. Hewage Chithrananda Sunil Madawa Premathilaka Dunstan Wickramaratne S. Piyasena N. Padmaseelan Carol Aloysius Camillus Perera Soloman Ranasinghe Anne Abeysekera Bandu S Kodikara Rasiah Selvarajah Wickrama Surendra Latheef Farook Nihal Ratnaike Saranapala Pamunuwa S.Thillainathan Veeragathy Thanabalasingham Sarath Malalasekera Premasiri Abeysinghe Neville de Silva Lakshman Jayawardena S. A. C. M. Kuwaldeen Palavasam Panneer Selvam Gaston de Rosayro Cyril Wimalasurendre Merrill Perera Sinniah Kanesan A.L.M.
Pushpakumara Sajeewa Chinthaka Janapriya Samaradiwakara Asoka Fernando Lakmal Spencer Saman Mendis H.A.N.
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