The Hon. Minister posing for a group photograph with the award winners

Sri Lanka Tourism collaborated with Cinnamon Hotels to encourage local and foreign photographers to highlight their talent and capture unique locations of Sri Lanka, to fascinate the world, byproviding prize money to winners of the Cinnamon Photography Contest 2017. The Cinnamon Photography Contest, which was initiated in 2016 at the World Travel Market, (WTM) London, highlighted more than 3000 images of Sri Lanka, photographed with excellent skill and patience.The Cinnamon Travel Photography & Videography Awards is a bi-annual competition, celebrating the best photography and Videography captured in Sri Lanka by an individual of any nationality andat any levelof experience. The participants contested under several categories.

Hon. Minister of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs, John Amaratunga , addressing the gathering

The ceremony was held under the patronage of Hon. Minister of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs, John Amaratunga, Managing Director, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Mr. Sutheash Balasubramaniam , Vice President , John Keels Group and Head of Brand Marketing, Mr. Dileep Mudadeniya, along with distinguished officials from respective organizations. A large number of amateur and professionals in photographers were also present at this occasion.

Presenting the certificates to award winners

The Prize awards included Grand prize of USD5,000.00, Category winners USD3,500, Videography winner USD2,500. Contestants from all over the island represented six categories, including the Grand Award, which was the Sri Lanka Tourism Photographic Grand Award, won by Raveendra Siriwardene. The other categories included the Sri Lanka Tourism Landscape Cityscapes photography award, won by Chamika Janith Perera, Sri Lanka Tourism Interior Photography award, won by Kaveen Jayawardene, Sri Lanka Tourism Nature, Wildlife and Marine Photography award, which was won by Raveendra Siriwardene, Sri Lanka Tourism activity and Adventure Photography award by Yamuni Perera, and Sri Lanka Tourism Photo Essay award won by Riddhi Parekh and Sri Lanka Tourism Culture and People photography award won by Shehan Trek.

The judging panel consisted of renowned international and local photography professionals including Karl Taylor, Ami Vitale, Paul Goldstein,Chitral Jayathilake,Gehan Desilva Wijeyrathne and Dinesh Khanna. The selection criteria included two segments including the local and international judging process.

This effort by Sri Lanka Tourism will encourage photographers across Sri Lanka totake tourism towards a new dimension by highlighting vibrant images of Sri Lanka to the global spotlight.

The ceremony proceeded with the welcome address made by Managing Director, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Mr. Sutheash Balasubramaniam , and the speech of Hon. Minister of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs, John Amaratunga, who expressed the importance of such events to establish a vivid and a colorful image of Sri Lanka as a exiting holiday destination with so much to see and explore. Vice President and Head of Brand Marketing at the John Keels Group, Mr. Dileep Mudadeniya, also addressed the gathering.

Hon. Minister of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs, John Amaratunga in discussion with Managing Director, SLTPB, Mr. Sutheash Balasubramaniam and Vice President and Head of BrandMarketing, John Keels group, Mr. Dileep Mudadeniya.

This tourism promoting event was first launched at the World Travel Mart (WTM) London in 2016. With the island becoming a favorite tourism hotspot and a fast developing holiday destination, this will be an exclusive opportunity for Sri Lanka Tourism to be a part of an event which strongly promotes Sri Lanka as a must visit destination. The contest will be given wide publicity through local and international media channels, will provide an opportunity for Promoting Sri Lanka Tourism all across the globe.

The outcome of this event proved to be an extremely fruitful one, not only creating greater social engagement among travelers, but also establishing relationships with the leading photographers and videographers of the world. International competitions of this nature will fulfill many national tourism and hospitality industry goals, adding a signature event in the Sri Lanka Hospitality and Tourism Event calendar, and most importantly, creating an inbuilt, cost effective travel and tourism awareness aspect among a larger global audience, and thereby expanding the Sri Lankan portfolio across the globe through a simple capture of a camera lens.