After the huge success of last year’s event, the BriSLA Awards, a national awards ceremony set up by our very good selves (the British Sri Lankan Association), are set to make a glorious return in 2016 for a second run.
BriSLA is a not-for-profit organisation whose aims are to eradicate poverty, improve education and health and promote environmental awareness in both Sri Lanka and the UK through charitable works. As an inclusive establishment, we work tirelessly within the British, Sri Lankan and British Sri Lankan communities with people of all races, religions and traditions to improve the living conditions of everyone.
In the years since BriSLA was launched, we have been a part of many admirable initiatives and seen many worthy achievements, and the BriSLA Awards are our way of rewarding the wonderful efforts of those who also strive to achieve our aims of improving society.
Our Inaugural BriSLA Awards 2015
Last year’s awards, which took place in October 2015 at the prestigious Grange St Pauls Hotel in London, saw some esteemed members of the British and Sri Lankan communities convene for a thoroughly enjoyable evening that honoured some excellent work undertaken in the previous year.
As it was the very first awards ceremony that we hosted, we were absolutely thrilled with the positive response we had from the attendees, all of whom proclaimed the event to be a triumph. Not only that, but we all had a wonderful evening with some delicious food and charming company.
With some fierce competition for the top prizes, our winners on the night were Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran in the Health & Education category, Mr Thushara Polpitiye in the Legal category, Ms Shazia Seleem in the Entrepreneurship category, Mr Reggie Fernando in Media category, Mr Kumar Sangakkara in the Sports category and Dr Raj Chandran and Ms Charmaine Jayetilleke MBE jointly in the Community Service category.
The 2016 BriSLA Awards
Hence, after much prompting from colleagues and associates, we were more than happy to put our organising hats back on and return for a second go; in fact, we’re hoping that the BriSLA Awards will continue to grow and become a regular event in the awards calendar, but we’ll take it a year at a time for now!
And this year, with our event sponsors from 2015 back with us, the black tie presentation evening will take place on Saturday 8th October 2016 and we’ve very excited to announce that it will be held at the world famous Lord’s Cricket Ground.
Speaking of the event, our indispensable President and Chairman, Dr Zimar Sivardeen, said;
“Last year’s inaugural ceremony was a success with our Guests of Honour being Professor Lord Patel of Bradford, director of the England and Wales Cricket Board, and Mr. Kenneth Olisa OBE, the Lord Lieutenant of Greater London. We raised money for our chosen charity, The Foundation of Goodness. Due to requests made by many of the attendees following the event, we are keen to instate the awards as an annual calendar event.”
“Brits, Sri Lankans and indeed British Sri Lankans share a love of cricket and we are thrilled to announce Lord’s Cricket Ground as the venue for our event this year. And who knows, we might have some special guests from the cricketing world to join us on the night!”
Our Chosen Charity
In keeping with BriSLA’s status as a not-for-profit organisation, as well as our charitable goals as a whole, we will additionally select a different charity each year who will benefit from the BriSLA Awards. Any monies raised on the night will thus be donated directly to our chosen charity and they will be widely promoted throughout the evening too.
For this year’s awards ceremony, our chosen charity will be Their Future Today, full information about whom can be found on their website. Headed by Mrs Lyn Stanier, a Sunbury-based travel agent who single handedly set up the charity after a holiday to Sri Lanka, Their Future Today works tirelessly to eradicate childhood poverty in Sri Lanka. In a number of inventive ways, TFT raises money to invest in improving the lives of children living in unacceptable conditions and reuniting families who have been innocently driven apart through poverty.
BriSLA are in awe of the work that Mrs Stanier and Their Future Today carry out and are honoured that they have agreed to be our associated charity for the BriSLA Awards 2016; we are very much looking forwards to working with them further for the benefit of our mutual communities.
The Categories
Nominations for the BriSLA Awards 2016 are now open and we are asking groups and individuals from the British and Sri Lankan communities to nominate the rising stars of their sphere, or anyone whose work to promote the goals of the British Sri Lankan Association deserves recognition.
And this year we’ve tweaked the categories slightly and added one extra one too, so we are looking for nominations in the following areas;
- Arts & Media
- Contribution to Sport
- Distinguished Services to Interfaith Relations
- Exceptional Services to Social Welfare
- Financial & Legal
- Health & Education
- Outstanding Achievement in Science & Technology
If you know of someone who deserves to be considered for a BriSLA Award in 2016, then please tell us who they are and what they have done, along with why you believe they deserve to win in one the above categories. Entries must be made in writing before the end of August 2016 and submitted either to the BriSLA committee via the Contact Form on our website or directly emailed to Dr Zimar Sivardeen at chairman@brisla.org.uk.
Get In Touch
If you would like to know anything more about the BriSLA Awards or would like further information about nominating someone for an award, or if you would just like to find out more about the work of the British Sri Lankan Association, then please just get in touch and ask.
You can use any of the methods on our Contact Page or email our President and Chairman directly at chairman@brisla.org.uk.
Alternatively, why not follow us on social media to keep abreast of all our news and activities and to hear the latest updates about the BriSLA Awards 2016; you can follow us on Twitter, like our page on Facebook or add us to your circle on Google+.
We look forward to hearing from you, and don’t forget to come back and see us soon!
