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| Monday, 23 June 2003 |
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The Editors Guild of Sri Lanka will honour five senior journalists this year with the Long and Distinguished Service Gold Medal award at its annual Journalism Awards for Excellence ceremony to be held on June 24 at the Mount Lavinia Hotel. The five distinguished journalists selected for this honour are Edwin Ariyadasa, D. F. Kariyakarawana, Jeffrey Yoonus, Ms. Annalukshimi Rajadurai and Dalton de Silva. Fourteen Awards and several Merit Certificates will be presented at the Awards Night, the fifth consecutive annual awards presentation organized by The Guild. This year's ceremony is jointly sponsored by Upali Newspapers, Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL), Wijeya Newspapers, Express Newspapers, United Newspapers together with SriLankan Airlines, Ceylon Tobacco Company, National Savings Bank, People's Bank, the National Lotteries Board and the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka. Mount Lavinia Hotel is the host-hotel.
Pen-sketches of the five journalists who will receive the Long and Distinguished Service Gold Medal Awards are as follows: l Having passed out of the University of Colombo with a Bachelor's degree in 1948, Mr. Ariyadasa joined the Ceylon Insurance Company, but entered journalism the very next year by joining Lake House. During a long and illustrious career, Mr. Ariyadasa worked in the Dinamina, Janatha, Silumina, Daily News, Sunday Observer as a writer and sub-editor, and finally became the Editor of the Navayugaya. He has contributed well over 17,000 English and Sinhala articles and written a number of Sinhala books and also translated some of the books. After leaving Lake House, Mr. Ariyadasa held several media-positions, among them Media Advisor to the Arthur C. Clarke Centre. He is currently serving as a consultant to the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Management. Mr. Ariyadasa has been engaged in the preparation of syllabuses for Journalism courses in Universities as far back as 1969 and also serves as a lecturer at universities. Mr. Ariyadasa has been awarded the Kalakeerthi award. l Mr.Kariyakarawana, began his career as a teacher and soon became a well-known poet in the Negombo area. He started his Journalism career from the 'Gnanarthapradeepaya'. In 1947 he joined the 'Lankadeepa', published by the Times of Ceylon as a sub-editor. In 1951 he crossed over to the rival Lake House Group where he rose to the position of Editor of the Silumina and Janatha newspapers. He was instrumental in introducing the Yowun Janatha and Kreeda tabloid newspapers while at Lake House. In 1955 he set up a Sri Lanka Newspaper Society, and in 1979 the Working Journalists Association. He also played a major role in introducing journalism courses at the University of Colombo. Mr. Kariyakarawana participated in worldwide press associations and was once elected vice president of the International Press Union and held the position for seven consecutive years. In 1996 he was elected Deputy General Secretary of that Union. Mr. Kariyakarawana has completed 58 years as a journalist, and continues to contribute to local newspapers. l Mr. Yoonus is a renowned political-cartoonist in the country, who has been in the profession for more than 50 years. Born in 1931 in Maradana and educated at Presbyterian and Wesley College, Colombo, Mr. Yoonus joined the 'Thinakaran' newspaper in 1952. In 1970 he joined the Communist Party organ, 'Aththa'. His popular cartoons usually triggered controversy among politicians of the day, but despite harassment and intimidation, he continued his work undeterred. Following the closure of the Aththa, Mr. Yoonus joined the Ravaya newspaper in 1998, but has now stopped drawing cartoons due to ill health. Mr. Yoonus was awarded the Vishva Prasadeeni Award in 1996, and the Kalasuri Award in 1998. l An old girl of Senguntha Hindu College in Thirenelvely and Ramanathan College in Chunnakam, Ms. Rajadurai joined the Virakesari newspaper back in 1962. In 1966, she was made Editor of Jyothi, a family tabloid and in 1973 of the weekly Mithran, a sister newspaper of the daily Virakesari. She is presently in charge of Kalai Kesari and Mangaiyar Kesari, two weekly tabloid supplements of the Virakesari Group. Ms. Rajadurai has written several books including 'Vizhichchudar' (a short novel), 'Ullaththin Kathavugal' (a novel), 'Nerupu Vezhichchem' (a collection of short stories) and 'Irupakkangal' (a collection of verses). She has covered overseas assignments in the Philippines and China and has been conferred the title 'Thamilmani' by the Ministry of Hindu Cultural Affairs in 1992 for her contribution to Tamil language and literature. l Trained in British newspapers in Fleet Street, London, Mr. Dalton de Silva has worked as a reporter, feature writer, news editor and associate editor at the Daily News and The Island. A veteran journalist for more than 50 years, he was also a foreign correspondent for two major news agencies, Agency France Press (AFP) from 1975 to 1981 and Reuters as chief of bureau from 1982 to 1991. He is a founder member of the Foreign Correspondents' Association (FCA) of Sri Lanka where he served two separate terms as President and has been appointed a life-member of the Association in appreciation of his services. Mr. de Silva worked as an Assistant Director of the then Ministry of Defence and External Affairs where his duties included briefing the local and foreign press and keeping Sri Lanka's diplomatic missions abroad informed about developments in the country. He served as Information Officer to Sri Lanka's delegations headed by Prime Minister Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike to the Non-Aligned Summit in Zambia, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Singapore and during bi-lateral talks with Indian Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi on the citizenship issue of workers of Indian origin in the tea plantations. During the past 12 years, Mr. de Silva has been conducting lectures at the Diploma in Journalism courses at the Aquinas College of Higher Education, the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute and other institutions. |
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