I’m delighted that Malima TV show on innovation, which I presented on Sri Lanka’s national TV Rupavahini for much of 2012, just won a Sumathi Tele Award — our equivalent of the Emmy Awards.
A Special Jury Award was presented to Malima at the 18th Sumathi Tele Awards festival held in Colombo on 30 October 2013.
The jury commended the studio-based show for both its content and presentation, noting our creative effort to link technology to everyday life in solving problems.
Exact jury citation (in Sinhala) read:
උතුර දකුණ මාරු නොකොට,
බුද්ධියෙන් ප්රඥාව කරා,
සතුටින් ගුණ නුවනින් යනුව ජීවිතය ගවේෂණය සඳහා
නව දිශානතියකින් කළ ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමක්.
සංකල්ය නිර්මාණයේ නිර්මාණශීලීතාව අගය කිරීමක්.
ජාතික රූපවාහිනීය නිෂ්පාදනය කළ,
නාලක ගුණවර්ධන ඉදිරිපත් කළ,
සුමින්ද තිලකසේන අධ්යක්ෂණය කළ
මාලිමා වැඩසටහනට පිරිනමනු ලබන සම්මානයයි මේ…..
The award was received by the show’s producer Mr Suminda Thilakasena and myself; it was presented by Ms Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Minister of Power & Energy, one of the guests of honour that evening.
Sumathi Awards have been organised by the privately owned Sumathi Group since 1995. It has established itself as the leading awards festival of the Lankan television industry that started in 1979.
Rupavahini broadcast of the evening (our award is presented around 16th minute):
Full awards list, as published in Lakbima daily newspaper, 1 November 2013:
Open Minds! (formerly: Moving Images blog) 