COLOMBO : Rifthi Ali, editor-in-chief of Vidiyal online portal , has been awarded the President’s Environment Silver Award by the Central Environment Authority.
The award was presented at the President’s Environment Award Ceremony – 2025 held with the participation of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Thursday,October ,23rd at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo..
The event was attended by Ministers Dhammika Pattabendi, Sunil Handunetti, Environment Deputy Minister Anton Jayakody and Environment Authority Chairman Prof. Thilak Hewawasam.
This award was given in recognition of his environmental in Tamil magazines as an independent journalist.
It is worth noting that the Central Environment Authority has also given President’s Environment Special Award to Journalist Rifthi Ali even last year.
Ali is an award winning journalist with 15 years of experience in print, digital and new media. He is the chief editor of vidyal.lk which is one of the leading Tamil news website in Sri Lanka, since 2014.
vidyal.lk
Ali is interested in electoral reforms, Right to Information (RTI) reporting, fact checking, environmental reporting and investigative journalism. He won the Prof. K. Kalasapathy Award for Reporting under Special Circumstances – 2020 in Journalism Awards for Excellence which was conducted by Sri Lanka Press Institute and Editors Guild of Sri Lanka. Also, hej has been recognized for his reporting by National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) under the initiative of “Revolution for freedom – A country free of alcohol”. He completed his Diploma in Journalism at Sri Lanka College of Journalism. Also, he graduated from Gaylord College for Journalism and Mass Communication in University of Oklahoma, United States and Queensland University of Technology in Australia on media related programmes. He was a participant of the Study of the United States Institutes (SUSI) for Scholars conducted by the U.S. Department of State. Rifthi Ali trained more than 500 youths and journalists on media ethics, media literacy, fact checking, awareness on RTI and investigative journalism
