This year’s annual Journalism Awards for Excellence programme jointly organised by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka with the Sri Lanka Press Institute will be held next Tuesday (July 14) at the Grand Ballroom of the Mount Lavinia Hotel.
The 10th consecutive annual event aims at recogising professionalism in journalism, rewarding excellence during a particular year and culminates in an Awards Night.
Over 400 guests have been invited for the gala event which will also commemorate the services of those who have defended press freedom in Sri Lanka in 2008, and carried out their professional duties amidst severe odds, including a reporter who lost his life in the line of duty.
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| Aruna Roy |
Among the Awards to be presented will be the Mervyn de Silva Journalist of the Year, the Upali Wijewardene Feature Writer of the Year, Prof. Kailasapathy Award for Reporting under Special Circumstances, B.A. Siriwardene Columnist of the Year, Subramaniam Chettiar Award for Social Responsible Reporting etc., who have been selected by an independent panel of judges from among media practitioners and academics.
The joint organizing committee has selected the winners of the Sepala Gunasena and D.R. Wijewardene Awards.
This year, the Lakshman Kadirgamar Foundation will sponsor a full scholarship for the winner of the Denzil Peiris Young Reporter of the Year
The Chief Guest at this year’s event will be Ms. Aruna Roy, the well-known Indian social worker.
Ms. Roy was born in Chennai in 1946 and attended a number of schools known for their innovative approach to education, including the celebrated Centre for the Arts –Kalakshetra in Chennai Tamil Nadu.
In 1987 she started working in Central Rajesthan to identify issues and mobilize people to form their own struggle-based organisation for empowerment and change. A two-year struggle for land and minimum wages led to the coming together of the poor to establish the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti sangathan (MKSS) in 1990.
The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) was born out of these struggles and the draft of a Central Right to Information (NCPRI) was prepared initially by the Press Council if India along with the NCPRI.
This draft became the basis of a ten year campaign for a strong national RTI law passed in 2005.
Ms. Roy was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community leadership in 2000. The money from the award has been put into an independent trust as she believed the award actually belonged to the collective and urged the Foundation to change its policy of awarding only to individuals.
Ms. Roy is a member of the Mazdoor kisan shakti sangathan (MKSS), the National ca,paign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and similar networks. |
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