Eagle Awards of Excellence

The Annual Eagle Awards of Excellence were presented to Dr. D.B. Nihalsinha, best known for his contribution to the film industry and renowned musician Rohana Weerasinghe.

They received the award from Eagle’s Managing Director Deepal Sooriyaarachchi at the Company’s Annual Sales Convention, conducted at Waters Edge recently.

Eagle Insurance annually selects and felicitates two personalities who have excelled in their respective fields with the Eagle Excellence Award.

Dr. Nihalsinha who excelled first as a cinematographer and then as a director, won international recognition, when his creation, ‘Bhakti’ was adjudged the best documentary at the Cardiff Film Festival in 1967.

His excellent photography and tight editing in ‘Sath Samudura’ became the talking point and won him awards at the annual Sarasaviya film festival. He has scored many ‘firsts’ in his career, directing the first widescreen film in Sinhala, ‘Weli Katara’, creating the first teledrama, ‘Dimuthu Muthu’ and the first tele musical, ‘Rekha’. A study on four state corporations earned him a PhD from the Adelaide University. Back in Sri Lanka he now heads the newly created Audio Visual Faculty at the Kelaniya University.

Rohana Weerasinghe having qualified from the State School of Music, he served as a music teacher, a singer and sitar player before distinguishing himself as a director of film music.

With the advent of television he became a household name when he provided music for virtually every teledrama in the early days. He holds the record for directing music in the most number of teledramas. He has won awards for his creations in film, tele and stage music.