Daily FT newspaper and Counterpoint.lk cartoonist Wasantha Siriwardena won the Cartoonist of the Year 2020 Award for the fourth time at the Annual Journalism Awards Ceremony organised by the Editors Guild of Sri Lanka held at the Colombo Hilton Hotel, recently. Siriwardena is a regular contributor for the Counterpoint.lk since it’s inception five years ago.
Cartoonist Wasantha was discovered by Lalith Allahakoon, then News Editor of the Sunday Times, way back in 1989 while working as a Health Educator at the Ceylon National Association of Tuberculosis (CNAPT Centre). He started his career as a freelance Cartoonist at the Sunday Times newspaper in 1989 and later joined full time in 1991. When computers were introduced to the newspaper industry in 1994, Wasantha took up the role of a graphic journalist and his infographics became popular among the readers in Sri Lanka. He recreated some of the bomb blasts, assassinations and plane crash scenes and map updates of the major military Operations during that time.
Wasantha also contributed political cartoons for many newspapers in Sri Lanka including Day mirror, Lankadeepa, The Nation, Bottomline, Ceylon Today and Sunday Observer newspapers.
Wasantha became the Best Cartoonist in 2001, 2004, 2009 and also excelled as a Newspaper Designer and won many awards over the years.
