{
  "id": 17145955,
  "title": "Professors, litterateurs, and journalists receive ‘Bauddhaloka’ Awards",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/professors-litterateurs-and-journalists-receive-bauddhaloka-awards",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-29T23:45:27.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Island Sri Lanka",
    "slug": "the-island-sri-lanka",
    "url": "http://island.lk/professors-litterateurs-and-journalists-receive-bauddhaloka-awards/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the annual Bauddhaloka Literary Festival held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo, three professors were awarded the prestigious one-time-only Bauddhaloka Award. The event, themed \"Puskola Sahitha Varuna\" (The Splendour of Palm-Leaf Literature), celebrated outstanding works based on Buddhist themes and their creators. Among the honorees were Ven. Rambukkana Siddhartha Nayaka Thera, Dr. Madulugiriye Wijerathna, and Dr. Anula Wijesundara, distinguished lay and ordained scholars. The award for the best Buddhist feature article in Sinhala went to Dr. Wimal Siri Munasinghe for his article \"Ranthelambuwen Vikasitha Rathnamaliya\" published in Divaina in 2025. Nishantha Peiris, a journalist from the Department of Government Information, was recognized for his outstanding English-language feature article titled \"Buddhist Sinhala Literature is the Eye of Sri Lankan Literature.\" Sunira Sumangada was named the Best Buddhist Singer of 2025, and Viraj Perera received the award for the Most Popular Buddhist Song. The event was graced by the presence of the Most Venerable Narampanave Ananda Nayaka Thera, the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, and Professor Chandana Abeyratne, Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs.",
  "summary": "The annual ‘Bauddhaloka’ (Light of Buddhism) Literary Festival, which honors works based on Buddhist themes and their creators, was recently held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo. At this year’s festival—held under the theme ‘Puskola Sahitha Varuna’ (The Splendour of Palm-Leaf Literature)—three prestigious, one-time-only awards were presented to…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}