Facing the Pandemic with Creative and Responsible Media Expressions

Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF) in partnership with HELVETAS organized an online competition for the Media and Communication students of the Universities of Peradeniya, Sri Jayewardenepura and Jaffna on, “I Am a Responsible Media Citizen” from November 20 - December 5, 2020. The contest was held to engage youth during the pandemic, to express themselves innovatively and in a socially responsible manner.

The competition was held for 3 days for each University group, in English, Sinhala and Tamil. The students were given the opportunity to express their creative ideas through cartoons, memes, videos, photos and captions on the thematic areas such as (i) Gender equality (ii) Digital Citizenship (iii) Right to Information (iv) Fake news (v) Freedom of expression & (vi) Responsible use of social media. Immense interest and enthusiasm were displayed by the participants during this competition. Thamodi Liyanage, from the University of Peradeniya was highly thrilled about this opportunity. “This is really exciting for us. We haven’t participated in an online competition like this before.”

A total of 258 students registered for the individual and group competitions, which resulted in 52 entries for the individual competition and 170 for the group competition. A panel of judges selected the winners from the respective universities, under each category of the competition. The experience the students gained through this entire endeavour surely added great value to their knowledge and life. Vocalizing his experience, Eshana Sandun, from the University of Jayewardenepura stated, “The 3-day competition made me reflect, if I am a responsible media citizen. I was able to navigate through different thematic areas of this project.”   

The competition concluded with an award ceremony and project orientation for each University. During the final day events conducted separately, Dr. Gamini Pushpakumara, Dean of the faculty of Agriculture, from the University of Peradeniya; Dr. Senani Harischandra, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sinhala and Mass Communication, of University of Sri Jayewardenepura; Dr. S. Raguram, Head of Media studies, University of Jaffna and other senior lecturers of each University graced the occasions. In addition, Prof. Padmasiri Wanigasundera, Chairperson of SDJF, Ms. Subashini Dissanayake, Country Representative, HELVETAS, Mohamed Azad, Program Director, Chandula Kumbukage, Project Manager, Ganeshanathan Saahithiyanan, Project Officer, Christine Weerakoon, Project Coordinator, Marlene Perera, Communications Officer and Rifdi Nawas, Accounts Officer from the project team took part in the events.

Appreciating and acknowledging the initiative of the InSPIRE Project, Dr. S. Raguram expressed his thoughts. “It is really impressive to have such a programme organized, especially during a situation like Covid-19, to keep the students engaged, as it has been a stress reliever to many of them.”

As a part of this programme, students were provided clear insights on the purpose of the competition and project activities that are to be implemented in their respective Universities in the near future. “I hope this InSPIRE centre will facilitate more programmes of this nature, to engage the university youth so that they can add value to their undergraduate profiles in a variety of dimensions” added Dr. G. Pushpakumara.

At the end of each program, the winners were announced and awarded with exciting prizes. Undoubtedly, this was a triumphant encounter to all the participants, regardless of them being adjudged winners. 

The activity is implemented as a part of Incubator Spaces for Promoting Information Rights and freedom of Expression (InSPIRE) project implemented by Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF) in partnership with Helvetas Intercooperation and funded by the European Union.

For more info: https://www.ldjf.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LDJF.org

Written by- Marlene Perera