The print media publications of the Liberty Publishers, namely the Aruna Sinhala newspaper’s website, the Thamilan Tamil newspaper, and The Sunday Morning and The Daily Morning English newspapers, went away with a haul of six awards including Pen Trophies and Merit Certificates together with the coveted Photojournalist of the Year, the Sports Journalist of the Year (English stream), the Best Health Care and Medical Reporter of the Year (English stream), and the Best Designed Newspaper of the Year (Tamil stream) Awards. 

This was at the 24th Edition of the Annual Journalism Awards for Excellence 2022 Programme Awards night held yesterday (12).  

The Daily Morning’s Deputy News Editor Sumudu Chamara won the Best Health Care and Medical Reporter of the Year Award (English stream). 

The Daily Morning’s and The Sunday Morning’s Sports Editor Ranjika Perera won the Sports Journalist of the Year Award (English stream) for his work in The Sunday Morning. 

Liberty Publishers’ Photojournalist Saman Abesiriwardana won the Photojournalist of the Year Award.

Thamilan won the Best Designed Newspaper of the Year (Tamil stream). 

The Aruna newspaper’s online website (www.aruna.lk) won the Certificate of Merit for the Best Designed News Website (Sinhala stream). 

Journalist Ehamparam Raviwarman from the Thamilan newspaper won the Joint Certificate of Merit of the Upali Wijewardene Feature Writer of the Year (Tamil stream).

The Awards ceremony was organised at the Empire Ballroom of the Mount Lavinia Hotel by The Editors’ Guild in partnership with the Sri Lanka Press Institute and its affiliated Unions - the Newspaper Society, the Free Media Movement and the Working Journalists’ Association. The annual programme recognises professionalism in journalism and rewards those who have excelled. 

This year (2023), 36 journalists received the Pen-Trophy Award while 16 others received Certificates of Merit along with five Lifetime Achievement Awardees (to H.L.D. Mahindapala, S. Samarasinghe, Seetha Ranjanee, S. Thillainathan, and A.L.M. Nilam). The Denzil Peiris Young Journalist/Reporter of the Year Awardee (Tharushi Weerasinghe of The Sunday Times) was awarded the Lakshman Kadirgamar Scholarship to study at the Manorama School of Communication/MASCOM which is an Indian college of journalism in Kerala, India. The scholar will be flown by the SriLankan Airlines. Ceylon Today’s Sulochana Ramiah Mohan won the coveted Mervyn de Silva Journalist of the Year Award.

A record total of 354 applications from seven newspaper publishing houses were received by the 13-member panel of judges (print media) and the four-member panel of judges (online newspapers) this year. This year, entries were received for 16 print media categories and two online newspaper categories. The print media categories include the Mervyn de Silva Journalist of the Year, the Scoop of the Year, the Investigative Journalist of the Year, the Best Environmental Reporter of the Year, the Subramaniam Chettiar Award for Reporting on Social Issues, the Sports Journalist of the Year, the Denzil Peiris Young Reporter of the Year (under 26 years), the Photojournalist of the Year, the Best Designed Newspaper of the Year, the Business and Finance Journalist of the Year, the Upali Wijewardene Feature Writer of the Year, the Cartoonist of the Year, the B.A. Siriwardena Columnist of the Year, the Prof. K. Kailasapathy Award for Reporting under Special Circumstances, the Best News or Feature using Right to Information, and the Best Health Care and Medical Reporter of the Year. The online newspaper categories are the Best Designed News Website and the Best