The twelfth encounter of Raigam Tele’es - the tele-awards ceremony of the nation, which is also the biggest annual event of the television industry in Sri Lanka will be held on the 3rd of June 2016 at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre.

Continuation of an award ceremony at the highest level for twelve consecutive years, overcoming many challenges is a very special victory for us and we are pleased to see that today the Raigam Tele’es has become a very special event of all stakeholders of the industry. We share that happiness and the strength we have thus gained with the media and the general public and we gladly and proudly accept the challenge of organizing the “Awards Ceremony of the Nation” to encompass the whole of the tele-media.

An occasion retains its value and currency only if it evolves with the passage of time while maintaining its original values. If, in an award ceremony, award winners are queued up and given awards just for the sake of holding an award ceremony, that event will not generate any interest; at least not for very long. The audience will not have any enthusiasm as there will be nothing to arouse their interest. That is the reason why audiences in many award ceremonies applaud the award recipient so unenthusiastically. As organizers of Raigam Tele’es we are always committed to provide a new experience to the audience while maintaining the values of the event. Raigam Tele’es has established a set of norms which are very strictly adhered to in all aspects of the event.

Twelve years ago Raigam Tele-awards Ceremony started as an awards ceremony for the tele-drama industry and later re-branded as Raigam Tele’es to appreciate all sectors of the television media which includes tele-dramas as well as other television programmes such as sports, children’s, political, news, documentary, reality and many other not forgetting technical and individual talents (the list of awards is attached hereto) under four main award categories.

Tele-drama Excellence Awards

Although the over-view of the Raigam Tele’es has been broadened, the Raigam Tele’es Secretariat has decided to keep the number of awards unchanged. Accordingly this year too there will be number of awards for year’s best creating, acting, singing and technical talents of multi-episode tele-drama and single-episode tele-drama.

Television Media Excellence Awards

Today the most popular TV program is tele-drama, but most of the air time is occupied by other, different programs. The main responsibility of the TV media should be to telecast these programs targeting the education and entertainment needs of the audience with high quality material and updating viewers on various areas of interest. Therefore with the hope of encouraging production of creative and high value programs to sharpen the minds and tastes of the general public a number of awards will be presented to best efforts in this category including news reading, news reporting, current affairs, educational, children’s, musical, reality, and political Programs. Awards for the best news reader and best presenter will be granted separately for each language Sinhala, English and Tamil.

Most Popular Awards

An opportunity has been allowed for thousands of television viewers to indicate their most preferred tele-drama, actor and the actress under this category through an SMS poll. Raigam pioneered the use of SMS to select the winners of popular awards. This time too the general public will get the chance to use SMS to elect their choice of the most popular Actor, Actress, and Tele-drama.

Awards of Appreciation

Honouring the pioneers and artists who had worked hard for the development of the television sector is one of the special events of the Raigam Tele’es. During the past Raigam Tele’es has honoured many senior artists, technicians and selected personalities who were instrumental in introducing television media in our country.

In 2007, ‘PRATHIBHA PRABHA’ life time awards scheme was introduced to honour and appreciate the contribution and achievement of most prominent personalities who contributed to build and develop the TV industry. Dr. D.B Nihalsinghe, Shan Wickramasinghe, Kalashoori Titus Thotawatta, Kalashoori Sathischandra Edirisinghe, Lucien Bulathsinghala, Tony Ranasinghe, Dharmasena Pathiraja, Parakrama Niriella, Jayalath Manorathne and Cyril Wickramage are the artists who have been honoured under this awards scheme.

Appreciation TV Channels
Raigam Tele’es is the only event in Sri Lanka which uses a clear-cut and a transparent scheme to appreciate the contribution of TV Channels.

The TV Channel which secures most number of awards under the Tele-drama Excellence category will be honoured as the “Tele-drama Channel of the Year” whilst the TV Channel which secures most number of awards under the Television Media Excellence category will be honoured as the “Televion Media Program Channel of the Year”.
The TV Channel which secures the most number of awards in total at the ceremony will be honoured as the “Best TV Channel of the Year”.

The Nominations Evening

Raigam Tele’es pioneered the concept of declaration and felicitation of the nominees recommended for awards at a grand ceremony prior to the final event making a revolutionary change in award ceremony culture in Sri Lanka. This “Nominations Evening” has been well accepted by the industry as it provides an opportunity to felicitate all the nominees moving with international trends.

This year the Raigam Tele’es “Nominations Evening” will be held on a grander scale on 13th May 2016 at the Kingsbury, Colombo.

Awards Ceremony

The awards ceremony is organized in the most glorious fashion with utmost attention to detail while preserving the dignity of the event. As usual, the Ceremony receives unprecedented state patronage. No doubts that this night will be a memorable one indeed when everyone connected to the TV industry meet with each other. Only the invitees will be privileged to witnessing the show in its full glory. The event will be telecast later on main TV Channels.

The Jury

The Judge Panel consists of seven members and most of them have past experience in similar capacity. This time the Chairman of the panel is Professor Patrick Rathnayake. Other members are Prof. Ajantha Hapuarchchi, Renown Film Critique & Journalist Gunasiri Silva, well-known journalist Jayantha Rukmanee Siriwardene, Senior Lecturer Hansamala Ritigahapola and Senior Administrative Officer Dr. D.M.R.B. Dissanayake. Prof. S.J.Yogarajah will perform duties as special advisor in the Tamil medium

Entries for the Ceremony

Entries for Raigam Tele’es 2015 are now accepted by the Raigam Tele’es Secretariat and will be closed on 28th of February 2016.

Creations eligible for evaluation for awards at the Raigam Tele’es 2015 are as follows.

1. Tele-dramas – Local tele-dramas that had telecast the last episode in 2015.
2. Other creations – Should have been telecast during 2015.
3. Any production telecast over cable TV or any other paid channel or any dubbed production (other than for best dubbing program) are not eligible for awards.
4. News Readers and Program Presenters may send their application through their TV channel or independently.

Partnerships

Sampath Bank is the Primary Partner of Raigam Tele’es 2015. Sampath Bank, the pioneer in technical innovative banking, is one of the most responsible and respected Corporate Citizens in the land.

Dialog Enterprise will act as the sponsor for the nominations evening and Swetha Chandanadeelepaya will be the beauty partner of the event.