State Drama Festival
State drams festival selects creative dramas of high standard which cause advancement of the sinhala dramativegy and evaluates such dramas and dramatists at the state Drama Festival.
Applications for the festival are invited during the period January to March each year. Application prepared according to the press advertisement to be published during the period should be forwarded together with the script of the drama. National state Drama Festival is held in Sinhala and Tamil media.
Only the original dramas translating or adaptations of dramas produced and staged for the public during the period January 1st to December 31st in the previous year can be presented for the National Drama Festival. Award ceremony will be held at the end of the year.
State Short Drama Festival
Short Drama Festival in Sinhala medium is organized annually with the objective of encouraging and evaluating persons involved in producing short dramas of high standard creativity using alternative methodologies after researching into them.
Particulars of the state Short Drama Festival will be published every year in the newspaper and through mass media. Any citizen of Sri Lanka can forward applications. It is compulsory that the applicant should be the directors of the drama.
State Children’s Drama Festival
Department of Cultural Affairs and the State Drama Advisory Board of the Sri Lanka Art Council make arrangements to hold the state Children’s Drama Festival every year. Children’s Drama Festival will be held in Sinhala, Tamil and English media with effect from this year.
This Drama Festival will be held in two sections, limited section and open section. School can participate under the limited section while any person can apply under the open section.
This drama festival is organized with the expectation of elimating the “educational tiredness” children and pre-adolescents and making them contented future citizens through dramaturgy.
Dramaturgy has become an essential component of our education system at present. Hence introduction of children’s drama in place of former school dramas has been identified as an educational as well as a social need of the era. Through the medium of children’s dramas it is expected.
- To pane the way for children and pre-adolescents to gain a sound knowledge in peaceful coexistence, collective actions, and awareness of the world around them.
- To gain a training to become useful citizens of responsibility and decency with an understanding about their duties to be performed towards the society.
- To alleviate backwardness of children and pre-adolescents and to arouse develop and streamline their forwardness, personal skills, creative abilities, and future leadership qualities.
- To produce exemplary citizens devoid of anti-social elements, associated with great future ambitions and striving with determination to achieve them.
State Literary Awards Festival
Department of Cultural Affairs and Arts Council of Sri Lanka organizes annually the state Literary Awards Festival to encourage literati to produce high standard creative literary words for the country. Books belonging to following areas are selected for giving awards.
Original novels, original short stories, original poetry, original youth literature, original dramas, songs, children literature, scientific writing, miscellaneous translation of novels, translation of short stories, translation of dramas, miscellaneous translations.
Every book submitted for consideration of giving award should have been registered in the Department of National Archives during the period January 01st to December 31st of the year previous to the year in which the award festival is to be held. (state awards one offered for books registered from January 01st to December 31st of the previous year only)
- Should be the first print of the book
- In case of a book meant to children, it should have more than 16 pages
- Other books should have more than 49 pages
From the books deposited at the Department of National Archives, books felling under the above categories and which are decided suitable for surveying for the purpose of giving awards, by the panel on literature will be submitted for the survey. First round of the survey will be carried out by an external board, the second round of the survey will be by the panel on literature, the third round will be by an Apex Body of scholars. Literary works selected by the third round of the survey will be given awards at the Award Festival.