A journey of excellence: Celebrating 27 years of recognizing the best in Sri Lankan journalism

Events
By Editor_1
-slpi.lk

By Sukumar Rockwood

COLOMBO – The 27th Edition of the Journalism Awards for Excellence 2025 will get off the ground at the Oak Room of the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo on Tuesday, November 10, with the Awards Night that brings together the media community of publishers, editors and journalists under one roof.

Organized jointly by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL) and the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI), the Awards remain the country’s only independent annual program dedicated exclusively to recognizing excellence in print journalism, with a tradition spanning nearly three decades.

This year’s edition will see many young journalists entering the competition, continuing a legacy that has recognized outstanding work across generations of journalists in the three principal languages of Sri Lankan print media.

The idea behind the Awards was simple but important: to encourage journalists to aspire to the highest professional standards and recognize those whose work exemplifies the craft and responsibilities of journalism.

The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka, which pioneered initiative , was established in 1995 by several of the country’s most distinguished editors of the time. Its founding members included the late Bandula Padmakumara, Mervyn de Silva, Ajith Samaranayake, Lasantha Wickrematunge, Nimal Horana, P. Arulanandan, and Gamini Weerakoon, as well as Siri Ranasinghe, Manik de Silva, Sinha Ratnatunga, Mohanlal Piyadasa, Upali Tennakoon, Sarath Cooray, and A. Sivanesaselvan

The dream of professional excellence

In 1999, under the presidency of Sinha Ratnatunga, the Guild launched the Journalism Awards for Excellence, establishing categories and assessment criteria through which an independent panel of senior journalists and media academics could evaluate work submitted by journalists during the preceding calendar year.

The Guild’s 1999 Annual Report described the initiative as fulfilling “a long felt need to promote highest standards among the hundreds of print media journalists throughout the country”.

The first Awards Night was held as a formal dinner at the Trans Asia Hotel, now Cinnamon Lakeside, with approximately 150 invitees. What began as a modest gathering has since grown into one of the most significant annual events in Sri Lanka’s media calendar, attracting more than 450 participants.

Twenty-seven years of perseverance

Sustaining the Awards program for 27 consecutive years has not been easy for its organizers. An event of this scale demands careful planning, strong coordination, and substantial resources, with funding consistently among the greatest challenges. Yet, year after year, the necessary support was secured, enabling the program to continue through the commitment of media organizations and sponsors.

The inaugural Awards Night was held at the Cinnamon Lake Hotel, which served as the Guild’s host hotel at the time. The Mount Lavinia Hotel subsequently became the venue for the next 25 years, with one exception when the event was held at the BMICH.

Although traditionally the Awards Night was scheduled for the last Tuesday of July, the date and venue have changed over the years. What has remained constant, however, is the commitment to recognizing excellence and upholding professional standards.

It is the country’s largest print media awards program and the only independent print media awards ceremony of its kind, without affiliations or obligations to the government or private institutions.

In addition to recognizing outstanding work across individual categories, the program honours veteran journalists who have served the profession with distinction for more than 40 years through its Lifetime Achievement Awards.

The Awards

The spirit of the Awards is perhaps best captured in the Guild’s own description of the program as “an event by the scribes for the scribes and of the scribes”. This description captures the spirit of the program as it was conceived by journalists, for journalists, with the objective of strengthening journalism itself.

Each year, journalists voluntarily submit their work for assessment in their chosen categories. Entries are evaluated by an expert panel against established criteria, with awards recognizing excellence in reporting, investigative journalism, feature writing, photography, cartooning and other areas of the profession.

Winners in the principal categories receive a distinctive trophy shaped like the nib of a fountain pen, mounted on a wooden base, together with a certificate. The fountain-pen nib serves as an apt symbol for an award that celebrates the craft of journalism.

Applicants who do not win a category but meet the standards set by the panel of judges receive a Merit Award, represented by a certificate. The Chief Guest traditionally receives a miniature version of trophy.

The program also has an important connection with the wider media self-regulatory framework. In October 2003, the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL) was established as a media-led effective self-regulatory mechanism for resolving complaints by readers. In the application process, newspaper editors are required to affirm that their publications uphold the Code of Ethics promoted by the PCCSL.

The following year, in 2004, the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) was established. From then onwards, the Journalism Awards for Excellence became a joint initiative of TEGOSL and SLPI.

A voluntary and competitive process

Each year, interested journalists are invited through an advertisement to submit applications for an award in the category of their choice. Entries generally close during the last week of April, after which the grading process begins in May.

To qualify, the work must have been published in a Sri Lankan newspaper between January 1 and December 31 of the preceding year.

Applicants may be full-time journalists or correspondents who are part-time, journalism students undertaking internships, or persons who have had a minimum of ten articles published in a newspaper during the calendar year.

The competitive process covers the principal award categories such as the Mervyn de Silva Journalist of the Year Award and the Denzil Peiris Young Reporter of the Year Award. The winner of the Young Reporter of the Year Award wins the Lakshman Kadirgamar Scholarship which entitles him/her to a six-month diploma course with the prestigious Manorama School of Communication (MASCOM) in Kottayam, Kerala, India. In addition, there are Special Awards conferred by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka. Among these are the D. R. Wijewardene Award for Earning the Appreciation of Peers and the Public and the Sepala Gunasena Award for Defending Press Freedom in Sri Lanka.

An evolving awards program

Over the years, the Awards have evolved alongside the changing nature of journalism. Categories have been introduced, revised and discontinued to reflect emerging areas of professional practice and the changing demands of the media landscape.

From 2000 to 2006, the D. B. Dhanapala Awards recognized outstanding journalists separately in Sinhala, Tamil and English, alongside the principal Mervyn de Silva Journalist of the Year Award.

The D. B. Dhanapala Awards was discontinued in 2006. 

Other changes included the renaming of the Upali Wijewardene Award for Human Interest Reporting as the Upali Wijewardene Feature Writer of the Year Award, and the evolution of the Best Environmental Report of the Year into the Best Environmental Reporter of the Year.

The D. B. Dhanapala Award for the Scoop of the Year also subsequently became the Scoop of the Year.

Several categories, including awards for the best students of the Sri Lanka College of Journalism in the three language streams and awards for television and radio news stories, were eventually discontinued.

A significant addition was made in 2008 with the introduction of the Investigative Journalist of the Year category.

In 2016, as journalism increasingly moved into the digital space, a category for news websites was introduced. In 2017, another important category—the Best Health Care and Medical Reporter of the Year—was added.

The continuing evolution of the categories reflects the changing nature of journalism itself.

From print to digital

The transformation of journalism through digital technology has inevitably influenced the Awards Program.

With the growth of online newspapers and digital journalism, three new categories have now been introduced:

  • Best Designed News Website
  • Best News Website
  • Best Video Story-telling Award

These categories recognize that excellence in journalism is no longer confined to the printed page. The principles of accuracy, relevance, creativity and public service remain the same, even though the platforms through which journalism reaches its audience have changed.

Why record the history of excellence?

Why do we record the history of the Journalism Awards for Excellence?

History is important because it enables us to understand our past, and understanding our past helps us understand the present.

If we want to know how and why the Journalism Awards for Excellence Program has developed into what it is today, we must look to its history for the answers.

People often say that history repeats itself. If we study the successes and failures of the past, however, we may learn from them and, ideally, avoid repeating our mistakes.

The history of this program is therefore not simply a record of awards, trophies and ceremonies. It is a record of the changing face of journalism in Sri Lanka.

It tells us about the commitment of editors who believed that journalism could and should be better. It tells us about journalists who were willing to have their work judged against professional standards. And it tells us about an industry that is over 220 years old that has survived changing times, changing technologies and evolving challenges.

A personal reflection

As the Convener of 18 of these events, I can proudly say that we have come a very long way.

From the first event, attended by around 150 guests, the Awards Night has grown into an important gathering of more than 450 people.

But the real measure of success, is not the growth in attendance. It is the program’s ability to sustain its original purpose for 27 years: encouraging journalists to strive for excellence.

The Awards have provided young journalists with an opportunity to have their work evaluated alongside that of experienced professionals. They have recognized investigative journalism, reporting on social issues, environmental and health reporting, sports journalism, business journalism, photography, cartooning, column writing, feature writing and the use of the Right to Information.

They have also recognized the changing technologies through which journalism is produced, presented and consumed.

Above all, the program has demonstrated that journalism deserves to be recognized not merely as a profession, but as a public service.

The categories today

The current program covers 18 principal categories. 
They are:

  1. Mervyn de Silva Journalist of the Year
  2. Investigative Journalist of the Year
  3. Scoop of the Year
  4. Denzil Peiris Young Reporter of the Year
  5. Best Health Care and Medical Report of the Year
  6. Best Environmental Reporter of the Year
  7. Sports Journalist of the Year
  8. Best Designed Newspaper of the Year
  9. Business and Finance Journalist of the Year
  10. Cartoonist of the Year
  11. Prof. K. Kailasapathy Award for Reporting Using    Right to Information
  12. Photojournalist of the Year
  13. B. A. Siriwardena Columnist of the Year
  14. Subramaniyam Chettiar Award for Reporting on Social Issues
  15. Upali Wijewardene Feature Writer of the Year

The digital era has also brought the additional categories of:

  1. Best Designed News Website
  2. Best News Website
  3. Best Video Story-telling Award

Looking ahead

The Journalism Awards for Excellence began with a simple idea: that good journalism deserves recognition and that professional standards should be continually encouraged.

Twenty-seven years later, that idea remains as relevant as ever.

The platforms may change. Newspapers may move into the digital space, and the ways in which stories are written, presented and consumed continue to evolve. But the fundamental values of journalism—accuracy, fairness, courage, responsibility, independence and commitment to the public interest—remain constant.

The challenge before the next generation of journalists is not simply to win an award, but to uphold the standards that make the award meaningful.

The 27th Journalism Awards for Excellence is another milestone in that continuing journey.

The story of the Journalism Awards for Excellence is, ultimately, the story of a continuing commitment to excellence in journalism.

And that is a history worth recording.

-ENCL

Editor_1
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