Rupavahini State Awards Ceremony next week

Priyanka Kurugala

Rupavahini State Awards Ceremony 2011 /2012 will be held on January 29 from 6 pm at Sirimavo Bandaranayake Exhibition Hall.

The ceremony is held to develop the quality of television productions and to appreciate artistes and producers.

It is organized by the Cultural Affairs Department under the guidance of the Culture and the Arts Ministry, Cultural Affairs Department spokesperson said.

First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa will be the chief guest and Culture and the Arts Minister T. B. Ekanayake will participation.

"This is the only state award ceremony to appreciate artistes who excelled in television productions," the spokesperson added.

All programmes and productions broadcast until December 31, 2012 in all television channels were put into 42 categories to select winners. Some of the categories are Best documentary programme, Best tele-drama episode, Best production, Best news reader etc.

Three lifetime achievement awards will be presented to veteran artistes Arun Dias Bandaranaike, Piyadasa Ratnasingha and Rukmin Wijemanna who rendered an enormous service for television production.

In addition, six volume of Rupavahini Samiksha will be launched at this occasion.