THE 28TH NATIONAL ICT AWARDS
The 28th National ICT Awards ceremony took place in Monarch Imperial on Friday 25th September evening under the auspices of Hon. Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and Hon. Eng. Eranga Weeraratne, the Deputy Minister of Digital Economy.
National ICT Awards is the most prestigious ICT Awards Night in Sri Lanka from which the nominations to the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards are also selected. The event is Organized by National ICT Awards Trust consisting of all ICT Associations in the country with BCS the Chartered Institute of IT Sri Lanka Section leading the initiative.
The event was attended by over 600 guests including government ministry Secretaries such as President’s and Prime Minister’s Secretaries, senior government officials, Key Business Decision makers, ICT Industry leaders, Academics and Awards winners. 127 awards were awarded over 43 categories covering Tertiary and Post graduate students, Government & Public Sector and Private sector organisations for their premium quality ICT Products and innovations. From these winners, 35 products and Innovations nominated for the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards this year were also announced during the Awards night.
This year the ICT Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to Mr. Ruvan Ratnatunga – Chairman of DMS Group for his immense contribution in introducing new and innovative technologies, foreign and local revenue generation and creation of employment to Sri Lanka ICT Industry since 1978.
A special awarding of Distinguished ICT Stewardship Award was given to Mr. Geethapriya Tillekeratne for the outstanding work he had done over the years for ICT Industry and the National ICT Awards.
The 28th National ICT Awards organising was headed by Mr. Isuru Sirinimal and Prof. Lasith Gunawardena was the Chairman of the National ICT Awards Board of Management. This year the judging committee comprised 66 judges, where Mr. Rasith Fernando served as the Chairman of the judging committee.
Addressing the gathering Eng. Weeraratne highlighted that Sri Lankan ICT Industry needs to scale our products and Innovations to reach outside Sri Lanka to truly fulfil the mission of a e Digital Economy and the government has already taken steps to uplift the digital infrastructure to support these expansions.
In Hon. Prime Minister’s message, she noted that National ICT awards has played a vital role in encouraging innovation, recognizing excellence and creating greater opportunities for our ICT professionals, entrepreneurs and innovators to contribute to the country’s digital economy and she hopes that National ICT Awards would continue to play that role as a catalyst for years to come.
