The 17th edition of the Journalism Awards for Excellence 2015 will be held on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 in the Empire Ballroom of the Mt. Lavinia Hotel. The event is jointly organized by The Editors' Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL) and the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI), the most prestigious media awards event in the country.
A total of 229 applications from 11 newspaper publishing groups was received by the distinguished 11-member independent panel of judges for the Journalism Awards for Excellence 2015, said Journalism Awards for Excellence convenor Sukumar Rockwood.
Each year the winner of the Denzil Pieris Young Journalist of the Year Award receives six-month training in Journalism at the MASCOM - Journalism Training Institute in Kerala - with the compliments of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies. He is flown by the SriLankan Airlines and will receive a stipend of US $ 1,000.
This year entries were received for 14 categories, 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), 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 Press Freedom.
This year the Life Time Achievement Award will be presented to senior journalists Neville de Silva, Piyasena Ihalavithana, Veeragathy Thanabalasingham, Sarath Malalasekera and Premasiri Abeysinghe who have served the profession for over 40 years.
