|
State Literary Awards tomorrow:
Accolades for the scribes
Ruwini Jayawardana
|
On a hunt for creativity |
|
Penning the difference |
The State Literary Awards is widely recognized as one of the leading
ceremonies which felicitate scribes in the country. This year’s award
will take place at Temple Trees on September 30 at 4 p.m.
The event will be graced by National Heritage and Cultural Affairs
Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi, ministers, academics and writers in the
field. President Mahinda Rajapaksa will be the Chief Guest. Sinhala,
Tamil and English publications from 2009 will be felicitated.
“Each book will be examined by a jury comprising experts in the
field. They will be giving a fair judgment. It is our duty to see that
the best works are chosen out of the lot,” Minister Wanniarachchi noted.
She also added that the Ministry had a short time to get ready for
the literary ceremony as they were occupied with the Rupavahini State
Awards Festival recently.
“We have to get ready for the State Literary Festival in a short span
and then the state Drama Festival. However we have been active in
organizing the event to the best of our capacity. We will be
felicitating the Sinhala, English and Tamil publications of last year.
The Sahitha Ratna award will be awarded to three exceptional writers,”
she added.
Another specialty of this year’s program is that the main speech of
the event was held at a separate time and date.
This move was made to permit all those who are interested to take
part in the event to listen to the speaker without taking part in the
main awards ceremony.
 “This
was also done so that the speech need not be cut short due to lack of
time. Some take part in the event to see the writers being felicitated
rather than listen to speeches. The literary sub committee considered
all these facts and took on this decision. We were able to listen to an
in-depth speech without any disturbances,” Wanniarachchi said adding
that the Ministry will continue to support writers by providing book
publication donations, literary competitions and awards ceremonies. They
will also set up an institution for budding young writers who wish to
show their talents.
The State Drama Festival will be held at the end of the year. The
dramas chosen for the finals of the State Children’s Drama Festival will
be staged at John de Silva from October 5 to 12. They will be staged for
free. |
