Ms.S.Sowmiya, Alumni of Media Studies Awarded as ‘Woman Achiever’

Ms.S.Sowmiya, Alumni of Media Studies awarded as ‘Woman Achiever’ by the Nandavanam Foundation, Thiruchchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India. The award has been given to Ms.S.Sowmiya in recognition of her valuable contribution and commendable achievements in the field of media in the year 2023.

The awarding ceremony was held on 03rd of March 2024 in Chennai, India.

Media Studies Student Mr.S.Piryatharshan Croos Awarded Young Artist Award-2023

One of our Students, Mr. Piryatharshan Croos awarded the Young Artist Award-2023 (இளங் கலைஞர் விருது-2023) for his contributions towards folklore by the Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs, Sports and Youth Affairs of the Northern Provincial Council, Sri Lanka.

The award was given to Mr.Piryatharshan Croos at the Northern Provincial Cultural Festival-2023 of the Division of Cultural Affairs of the Ministry held on 06th of December 2023. The Northern Provincial Cultural Festival for the year 2023 was held at the Cooperative Hall, Killinochchi.

Selvakumar Rinoshan awarded 1st  Prize in Short Film Competition-2023

Mr.Selvakumar Rinoshan, Third Year Student of the Department of Media Studies submitted his Short film ‘Mann Soru’ in the Short Film Competition organized by ‘Vishwa Shakthi Foundation’.

Mr.Rinoshan’s Short Film ‘Mann Soru’ was awarded 1st Place in the above Competition and received a cash prize in the awarding ceremony held on 29th of July 2023. The crew members of the Short Film were also honoured at the awarding ceremony.

The awarding ceremony was held at Sri Kirshnabawan Cultural Hall, Hatton and Hon. Member of Parliament V.Radhakirshnan attended as Chief Guest in the Ceremony.

It is noted that short film ‘Mann Soru’ already won 1st Prize at the InSPIRE Project Inter-University Short Film Competition 2023.

Karnan Creations Short Film Competitions – 2023

The students of Media Studies were selected among the Top 10 in the ‘Karnan Creations Short Film Competition-2023’ conducted by Karnan Creations with Kuviyam Media (Pvt) Ltd.

The short film competition was conducted under the theme of நாளைய உலகம் இளையோர் கையில்’ (Future world is in the hands of youths). Shorts Films named ‘Literacy’ and ‘Kattratholuku’ of Ms.Subramaniyam Suganthani, a Student of Level III Semester II and Mr.Raveenthiran Benaya, a Student of Level III Semester I  respectively ranked among the Top 10 Short Films in the Competition.

The awarding ceremony for the Shorts Films was held on the 23rd of July 2023 and presided over by Kanakanayagam Varodayan, Managing Director ‘Kuviam Media’. Prof.S.Raguram, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Jaffna attended as the Chief Guest.

The Special Guests were Dr. Sivansuthan (Producer – ‘Thuvanam’ Film), Mr.Muthu Radhakrishnan Former Zonal Director of Education – Jaffna, Mr. Bharthi Rajanayagam, Senior Journalist, Shanmuganathan Sabesan, Founder of Karnan Creations and Mrs.Poonglualy Srisangeerthanan, Head, Department of Media Studies, University of Jaffna.

Mr.Chandramohan Niroshan, Student of Media Studies won the 1st Place in the Jaffna Pride Short Film Competition-2023

Mr.Chandramohan Niroshan, Third Year Student of the Department of Media Studies won first place in ‘Jaffna Pride’ Short Film Competition-2023 organized by the Jaffna Transgender Network (JTN) and High Commission of Canada to Sri Lanka and Maldives.

The short film competition was conducted as a part of Jaffna PRIDE-2023 and applications are invited under various themes by the organizers. Mr.Chandramohan Niroshan submitted his short film titled ‘அvanin’ and won the 1st Place. The prize-giving event on 18th of July 2023 at the Thinnai Hotel, Jaffna.

Mr.Chandramohan Niroshan, Student of Media Studies Awarded Special Merit Award at National Level Mo-Jo Competition-2023

Mr.Chandramohan Niroshan, Third Year Student of the Department of Media Studies awarded Special Merit Award at the national level Mo-Jo competition.

The competition for mobile journalism and mobile filmmaking was organized by USAID, IREX’s Media Empowerment for a Democratic Sri Lanka (MEND) Program to unearth and champion the talent and the best examples of Mobile Journalism in Sri Lanka. The Competition was held under two categories named (01) Professional Journalist Award and (02) Citizen Journalist (Amateur) Filmmaker Award.

The announcement of awardees was made at the ‘MoJo Lanka’ two-day festival which was conducted to showcase Mobile Journalism stories in Sri Lanka. The festival took place on 24th and 25th of June 2023. Mr.Niroshan was awarded a Special Merit Award under the category of Citizen Journalist (Amateur) filmmaker Award and won a 100,000 LKR gift voucher for his Mo-Jo production.

Short Films ‘Emali’ and ‘Mann Soru’ of Selvakumar Rinoshan Awarded and Screened at SWIFF 2023 International Film Festival

Mr.Selvakumar Rinoshan, Third Year Student of the Department of Media Studies submitted his Short films ‘Emali’ and ‘Mann Soru’ for the Student World Impact Film Festival (SWIFF) 2023.

The Student World Impact Film Festival (SWIFF) is the premier platform for showcasing the artistic talent of student filmmakers from around the world. Screening the films of filmmakers from 120 countries each year, SWIFF offers filmmakers the opportunity to elevate their careers and gain exposure in the entertainment world.

The film ‘Emali’ received an ‘Honorable Mention’ Award out of 13,868 submissions from 120 countries and the film ‘Mann Soru’ has been screened at the Student World Impact Film Festival (SWIFF) in the Asia Region on June 20, 2023.

Selvakumar Rinoshan, Media Studies Student Become One of the Top Five in the Photography Contest Conducted by ‘Climate Fact Checks (CFC) – 2023’

Mr.Selvakumar Rinoshan, Third Year Student of the Department of Media Studies become one of the Top Five in the Photography Contest conducted by Climate Fact Checks (CFC). The Contest was held under the title of ‘World Photography Contest – Environment Day 2023’.

The applications for the photography contest were invited by the Climate Fact Checks (CFC) for World Environment Day and Mr. Rinoshan submitted his photograph titled ‘Litter Endangers Life’. The organizers announced the winners of the Photography Contest on 14th June 2023.

Media Studies has allowed the students to learn ‘Photo Journalism’ as per the curriculum in the second year of the study programme to design visual storytelling through different types of photographs and plan different techniques in photography based on the necessity and significance of the situations as intended learning outcomes.

Kuviyam Mobile Short Film Competitions – 2023

The students of Media Studies were selected among the Top 10 in the ‘Kuviyam Short Film Competition-2023’ conducted by Kuviyam Media (Pvt.) Ltd.

The short film competition was conducted under the theme of ‘உயிரைக்கொல்லும் போதைப்பொருள்’. Shorts Films named ‘மெய்யறியாமை கொளல்’ (Meiyariyamai Kolal) and ‘மௌட்டியம் கொள்’ (Mowtiyam Kol) of Ms.Arulanantham Sangeerthana, a Student of Level IV Semester II and Mr.Raveenthiran Benaya, a Student of Level III Semester I respectively ranked among the Top 10 Short Films in the Competition. These two Short Films were ranged in the Top 10 short films out of 63 Short Films.

In addition to that Ms.Arulanantham Sangeerthana won the award for Best Actress for her Short Film ‘மெய்யறியாமை கொளல்’ (Meiyariyamai Kolal) in the above competition.

The awarding ceremony for the Kuviyam Mobile Short Film Competition-2023 was held on the 08th of April 2023 at the Auditorium of the Public Library of Jaffna.

Photo/ Short Film Competitions on Anti-Corruption- 2023

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) in collaboration with the Department of Media Studies conducted Photography and Short Film Competitions among university students in order to make awareness of Anti-Corruption.

The competitions were held in 2022 followed by the workshop on ‘Investigative Journalism’ conducted by Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) on the 26th of September 2022.

The awarding ceremony for the above competitions held on the 08th of March 2023 at 2.00 p.m at the Seminar Hall, Faculty of Arts of the University of Jaffna. The awarding ceremony was chaired by Ms.S.Poongulaly, Head, Department of Media Studies and Prof. S.Raguram, Dean, Faculty of Arts was the Chief Guest. Ms.Sankhitha Gunaretna, Deputy Executive Director of TISL, Mr. Kirupairajah Gowriswaran, Head of Branches and Community Sector of TISL, Ms. Nilakshy Thavarajah, Branch Manager – Vavuniya and other officials of TISL and the lecturers and academic support staff of the Department of Media Studies and students participated at the event.

Videography Competition

First prize – Mr.Raveenthiran Benaya (2019/A/SPI/577) (Second Year)                                                                                    (Award and cash prize of Rs. 60,000)

Third prize – Mr. Doraisamy Mohanraj (2019/A/198) (Second Year) and                                                                                   Mr.Thiyagaraja Prathapkanna (2019/A/263) (Second Year)                                                                                   (Award and cash prize of Rs. 20,000 each)

Photography Competition

First prize – Mr.Thiyagaraja Prathapkanna (2019/A/263) (Second Year)                                                                                  (Award and cash prize of Rs. 40,000)

Second prize –  Ms.Premaraj Kamsajini (2018/A/SPI/512) (Third Year)                                                                                            (Award and cash prize of Rs. 30,000)

Third prize -Mr.Jokeswaran Jovarnan (2019/A/120) (Second Year)                                                                                           (Award and cash prize of Rs. 20,000)

InSPIRE Project Awards -2023

University of Jaffna won 1st Place for the Overall Performance in the InSIRE Project among the four national universities.
In addition to this, University of Jaffna received the Special Award for ‘Active Participation in Practical Learning Workshops’.

The Students of Department of Media Studies won 25 awards  out of  40 awards under the 8 categories.

The details are as follows:
1. MULTIMEDIA ARTICLES
                Place                           Name
            1st place               Selvakkumar Rinoshan
           2nd place               Mohan Mohankumar
           3rd place                Sarumathy Nagarathiram
           4th place                K.M.J.Udayangani Bandara
           5th place                Y.M.H.M. Dasanayake

2. BLOGS
               Place                           Name
         1st place              Dilshi Nirmani Samarakoon
         2nd place              Maleesha Sandeepani
         3rd place               Harshika Madhushani Senarathne
         4th place               Pandiyaraj Thanusika
         5th place               Kishopana Suntharalingam

3. MOBILE PHOTOGRAPHY
              Place                          Name
         1st place              K.G. Dinithi T. Gamlath
         2nd place             Dishanuka Emil Arul Rajan
         3rd place              Lakshiga Kanesalingam
         4th place              Ruwini Wijerathna
         5th place              Jokeswaran Jovarnan
         5th place              W.M. Yohan Fernando

4. DSLR PHOTOGRAPHY
            Place                           Name
         1st place              Kirushika Balaruban
         2nd place             Niroshanth Navasothan
         3rd place              Dharmalingam Dishan
         4th place              Rajakumar Rajitha
         5th place              Liliyan Arulnesan Rukshy Vinotha

5. CARTOON/DOODLE ART
            Place                          Name
          1st place              Gabriel Madona
          2nd place             Romiliyat Nivaharan Dileesiya
          3rd place              Mahentira Dilaxshana
          4th place              Dhuraisamy Mohanraj
          5th place              Christeepa Kulasekaram

6. MOBILE VIDEO STORY
           Place                           Name
        1st place               W.M. Yohan Fernando
        2nd place              Ruwini Wijerathna
        3rd place               Shameer Ahamad
        4th place               Apiraami Thivakarasarma
        5th place               Dharshini Radhakirushnan

7. SHORT FILM
         Place                             Name
        1st place              Selvakumar Rinoshan
        2nd place             Chandramohan Niroshan
        3rd place              Sayanthan Abisaran

       4th place               Shameer Ahamad
       5th place               Randi Ushara Sewwandi

8. DIGITAL DRAMA
         Place                               Name
       1st place               Rajalingam Manoj
       2nd place              Anuradha Sandamali Gunasinghe
       3rd place              Gabriel Madona
      4th place                Fathima Nish

Thusiyanthi Parameswaran Won the Second Place in Provincial Level Photography Competition-2023

Ms. Thusiyanthi Parameswaran, a Fourth Year Media Studies student won second place in the Provincial Level Photography Competition which was conducted by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Rehabilitation, Social Services, Cooperatives, Food Supply & Distribution, Industries & Enterprises Promotion and Trade & Commerce of Northern Province.

The Competition was held under the theme of “Prioritizing Social and Economic Development of Women” to commemorate ‘International Women’s Day – 2023’.

The submissions were evaluated by the panel of Judges and the winners of the best photograph and short film competition were honoured with certificates and cash prizes on the celebration of International Women’s Day of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Northern Province held on 15th of March 2023.

Media Studies has given an opportunity to the students to learn photography under the ‘Photo Journalism’ course unit as per the curriculum in the Second year of the study programme in order to design visual storytelling through different types of photographs and plan different techniques in photography based on the necessity and significance of the situations as intended learning outcomes.

Media Studies Students Won Top Level Prizes in Short Film Making in order to make awareness of ‘How do the films making influences the promotion of the usage of alcohol and drug among youths’-2022

The competition was a part of the MoU signed between the Alcohol and Drug Information Center (ADIC) and the Department of Media Studies, University of Jaffna and it has conducted a second time in the year 2022 followed by the year 2020.

There are 30 short films that have been received and the panel of judges selected eight of them are the best productions considering the content and the quality.

First prize – Selvakumar Rinoshan (Third Year)(Award and cash prize of Rs. 50,000)

Second prize – The team headed by Mr.D.Dishan (Third Year) with the members of Mr. T. Thavathevan (Third Year), Mr. N. Niroshanth (Third Year) and Ms. R. Dharshini (Third Year) (Award and cash prize of Rs. 30,000)

Third prize – Mr.R. Benaya (Second Year) (Award and cash prize of Rs. 20,000)

Fourth prize – Ms.Kamsajini (Third Year) (Award and cash prize of Rs. 5,000)

Fifth prize – Ms. A. Sangeerthana (Fourth Year) (Award and cash prize of Rs. 5,000)

Sixth prize – Ms.S. Suganthani (Third Year) along the team with Ms. M. Dilaxshana (Third Year) and                Ms. K. Christeepa (Third Year) (Award and cash prize of Rs. 5,000)

Seventh prize – Ms.S. Priyatharsan Croos (Third Year) (Award and cash prize of Rs. 5,000)

Eighth prize – The team of Mr.Niroshan (Third Year) and Ms. Kirijah (Third Year) (Award and cash prize of Rs. 5,000)

‘Jaffna Pride’ Short Film Competition -2022

The students of Media Studies won the titles of first and third places in ‘Jaffna Pride’ short film competition conducted by the American Spaces – Sri Lanka, American Corner – Jaffna, Jaffna Transgenders Network (JTN), and Nadi.lk.

The ‘Jaffna Pride’ festival was celebrated on the theme of ‘யாழ் சுயமரியாதை வானவில் பெருமிதம்’ which highlights the issues and awareness of the transgenders in Jaffna.

The short film competition was conducted as a part of the festival in the name of ‘Unity beyond Struggle’ and provided the space to expose the issues face by the transgenders in the local community.

The prizegiving event was held on 10th of July 2022 under the patronage of Ms. Angel Queentus, Director and Founder, Jaffna Transgenders Network (JTN) and Ms. Susie Csorsz Brown, Public Affairs Associate, US Embassy, Colombo.

Ms. Larshika Manoharan and Sankeerthana Arulanantham won first place for their short film titled ‘அவனவள்’ and Ms. Kanageshwary won third place for her short film titled ‘மௌனமொழி’, all three are the third-year students of Media Studies.

Media Studies Students Won Top Level Prizes in Short Film Making on ‘Combating Alcohol and Tobacco’-2020

Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) Sri Lanka is a well-recognized resource center, promoting demand reduction of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and advocating effective policy the formulation for ATOD control nationally, regionally and internationally over the last 30 years. ADIC provides the technical input to the Ministry of Health, Regional Director of the Health Service (RDHS), MOH, Ministry of Education, District Secretariats, Divisional Secretariats, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Community Empowerment and Estate Infrastructure Development, local government authorities, National Authority on Alcohol and Tobacco (NATA), President Task Force on drug prevention in terms of technicality, educational/promotional materials on drug prevention, resource persons and information. ADIC is collaborating many field-level types of research and community-level experiments with the World Health Organization – Sri Lanka. ADIC is a member organization of the National Authority on Alcohol and Tobacco (NATA) and the Center for Combating Tobacco (CCT).

Furthermore, ADIC is conducting an internship Programme for students of the University of Colombo and University of Kelaniya, University of Rajarata, and National Institute of Social Development (NISD) with the acceptable guidelines from 2010.

On par with the above, with the facilitation of the Department of Media studies, Alcohol and Drug Information Center (ADIC) organized a competition to create short films on drug prevention and enhance university students’ knowledge and skills in the year 2020. Although this program started during the Covid – 19 pandemic, it has had many successful results. Despite all the challenges, the event overcame the challenges and achieved the desired goals using virtual technology.

The following students are won the awards in the competition.
First Place : Ms. P. Sriviththiya (Third Year, Media Studies) – Won Award and Rs. 50,000.00 Cash Prize
Second Place: Ms. N.Sharumathy (Third Year, Media Studies) – Won Award and Rs. 30,000 Cash Prize
Third Prize: Ms. Kamsajini Premaraj (First Year, Media Studies) – Won Award and Rs. 20,000 Cash Prize
Fourth Prize : Mr. Raveenthiran Benaya (First Year, Media Studies) – Won Award and Rs. 10,000 Cash Prize

Ms.Luxana, Third Year Student Won Two |National Level Prizes in Photography Competition conducted by Asia Foundation- 2020′

Ms. Luxana, Third Year Student Won Two National Level Prizes in Photography Competition Conducted by Asia Foundation

Ms. Luxana Pakirathan, a third year Media Studies student won two national level prizes in the photography competition conducted by the Asia Foundation in partnership with the Photographic Society of Sri Lanka.

The competition conducted on theme of ‘Pic Your Values’ on six categories: peace, respect, tolerance, compassion, honesty / sincerity, cooperation / solidarity or year 2020 and Ms. Luxana Pakirathan won first place in the category of ‘Cooperation’ and third place in the category of ‘Honesty’.

Ms. Luxana has already won the ‘Best Photography’ award in the competition titled ‘Kan Vazhiye 2019’ (Through the Eyes 2019) conducted by Tamil Literary Association of Uva Wellassa University for their annual festival ‘Malaiththendral’.

Meantime, the Department of Media Studies secured the third national level prize in photography competition in this year 2020 along with Ms. Sriviththiya Piranatharthikarasarma, Second Year Media Studies student already won the second place in island wide photo competition ‘Olichchuvadu 2020’ which was conducted by Tamil Literary Association, University of Moratuwa.

Ms. Sriviththiya Piranatharthikarasarma, Second Year Media Studies student won the Second place in island wide photo competition ‘Olichchuvadu 2020′ which was conducted by Tamil Literary Association, University of Moratuwa.’

The Competition was held under the title of ”Covid 19 Life / Social Distance (“கொவிட்-19 கால வாழ்வியல் / சமூக இடைவெளி”).

The submissions were evaluated by the panel of Juries comprises Mr. Bhagi Siva, Travel and Documentary Photographer from Sydney, Australia and Mr. Kajan Madrasmail, International Award Winning Travel Photographer and EOS World Community Ambassador.

The competition aims to encourage and promote the young photographers to register the slices of life visually and, it was the part of ‘Prammam’, the event conducted by the Tamil Literary Association, University of Moratuwa as 6th consecutive year.

Media Studies has given an opportunity to the students to learn photography under the ‘Photo Journalism’ course unit as per the curriculum in second year of study programme in order to design visual storytelling through different types of photographs and plan different techniques in photography based on the necessity and significance of the situations as intended learning outcomes.

Students Exhibit the Photographs in ‘Jaffna Photography Festival – 2019’

The photographs of Ms. Surenthiran Kirisha and Mr. Pirabakaran Dilakshan, two students of third year Media Studies and Mrs. T. Vijayatharsini, a pass out student are selected for the ‘Jaffna Photography Festival 2019’ to exhibit their photographs which organized by Jaffna Photography Society on 23rd to 25th November 2019 at ‘Thanthai Chelva Auditorium’, Central College, Jaffna.

Photographs from across the North-East displaying Tamil culture and the nation’s history of resistance and remembrance were showcased.

Media Studies Students Won Top Level Prizes in  ‘Media Studies Student Won International Award in Short Film Making’-2016

The final year Media Studies student Mr. Thivakar Thiruchelvam won the Audience Award for his Documentary Film ‘Munai’ at the Jaffna International Cinema Festival (JFCF) in 2016