NATIONAL CSSL ICT AWARDS
The Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) is the premier organization dedicated to promoting and improving professional standards in the Information and Communication Technology sector since 1976.
National CSSL ICT Awards is an award ceremony conducted with the view of recognizing and motivating those who have served the ICT industry in Sri Lanka. These awards intend to encourage, recognize and celebrate excellence in ICT practice by rewarding the best and the finest of ICT Professionals. National CSSL ICT Awards include calling nominations / applications, conducting selection and organizing an award ceremony, however the final selections will be made by a panel of experts from the ICT industry as well as academia.
Being the premier organization dedicated to promoting and improving professional standards in the Information Communication and Technology sector, CSSL awarding for following categories;
- Information Security Awards
- IT Service Management Awards
- Start-up Awards
- CSSL Student Category
- CSSL Elite awards

- Mr Shanta Yapa –Past President of Federation of IT Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS).
- Mr. Geethapriya Tillekaratne – Past Chairman, BCS -Sri Lanka Section
- Ms Sandra De Zoysa – Member of the board of Directors-SLASSCOM
- Mr Ahamed Nishadh –Representative from ICT Agency Sri Lanka
- Mr Yasas V Abeywickrama-President CSSL
- Mr Prabath Samindra –Vice President of CSSL
- Prof. Samantha Thelijjagoda –Project Chair, CSSL ICT Awards
CSSL ICT Student Award-School category Ashan Hansaka Rathnaweera. |
CSSL ICT STUDENT of the year (Undergraduate Category) Kugathasan Janarthanan. |
CSSL ICT Researcher of the Year is Dr. Kanagasundaram Ahilan |
CSSL ICT Educator of the year is Prof. Nihal Kodikara |
CSSL Best Start-up of the Year was awarded to Jendo Innovations (pvt) ltd
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CSSL Emerging ICT Leader of the Year is Mr Keerthi Kodithuwakku |
CSSL CIO of the Year was awarded to Dr. Prasanna Lokuge
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CSSL ICT Leader of the Year is Mr. Kanishka Weeramunda
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- Mr Shanta Yapa -Past President of Federation of IT Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS), Software Chapter
- Mr. Geethapriya Tillekaratne – Past Chairman, BCS the Chartered Institute for IT -Sri Lanka Section)
- Ms Sandra De Zoysa – -Member of the board of Directors-SLASSCOM (Group Chief Customer Officer, Dialog Axiata PLC
- Mr Ahamed Nishadh -Representative from ICT Agency Sri Lanka
- Mr Yasas V Abeywickrama-President CSSL
- Mr Prabath Samindra –Vice President CSSL
- Prof. Samantha Thelijjagoda – Project Lead for CSSL
- Sri Lankan Olympiad in Informatics – 2016 and 2017
- National Schools Software Competition – 2015
- Young Computer Scientist Competition – 2014
- Sri Lanka Science and Engineering Fair – 2013
- Junior Inventor of the Year – 2012
- Represented Sri Lanka at “4 Years From Now” (4YFN) 2016 and 2017 Barcelona, Spain
- Represented Sri Lanka at “Innov-Fest unbound 2016” at Singapore
- Finalist at “Unilever Startup Battle”, Singapore in 2016
- Among Top Three Startups to use “Google Tango Technology”, Paris
- One of the 57 rising Startups from Asia announced by
- Winner at e-Swarnabhimani competition organized by ICTA
- One of the top 3 startups at Lenovo Tango challenge held in Spain 2016
CSSL ICT Student Award-School category Pasindu Wijesena |
ICT Leader of the year Dulith V Herath |
ICT Researcher of the Year Dr Lakshman Jayaratne |
K Malin Sugathadasa ICT STUDENT Award Undergraduate Category |
Mohamed Shehan Emerging ICT Leader of the Year
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The LiveRoom Pvt Ltd Best Start-up of the Year |
Udana Wickramasinghe CIO of the Year
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ICT Leader of the Year 2016 – Shanil Fernando |
CIO of the Year 2016 – Conrad Dias |
Female ICT Leader of the Year 2016 – Prof. Mahesha Kapurubandara |
Emerging ICT Leader of the Year 2016 – Ganindu Nanayakkara |
Best Startup of the Year 2016 – Auxenta |
The annual National CSSL ICT AWARDS were organized for the third consecutive year in order to encourage, recognize, and celebrate the excellence in ICT practice by rewarding the best and the finest of ICT professionals.
The CSSL awarded four awards in National CSSL ICT AWARDS 2015 and the award ceremony was held at Galadari Hotel, Colombo.
- Best ICT Student of the Year (Schools Category)
- Female ICT Leader of the Year
- CIO of the Year
- ICT Leader of the Year
Best ICT Student of the Year (Schools Category) award was won by Roshnal Lihinikadu
Roshanl Lihinikadu is a past student of Royal College, Colombo 07. He did A/L’s in the mathematics stream in 2014. He obtained certifications from Oracle Inc In 2011 as an Oracle Certified Programmer in Java SE and ME. Currently he is doing the final stage of the BCS (British Computer Society). At present he is a co-founder and director at Stampede (Pvt) Ltd., which is a software development and outsourcing firm. He is also an intern at Forestpin Corp, which is a fraud Analytics Company based in the US.
Awards won by Roshnal:
- Think Quest Live by Oracle Education Foundation (USA), 2nd Place Award, Under 17 Application Development (Worldwide). Developed an SMS encryption/decryption mobile application called TED.
- National Schools’ Software Competition (NSSC) 2011 – Under 17 – Silver Award , 2012 – Under 17 -Gold Award , 2013 – Under 19 – Gold Award and 2014 – Under 19 – Gold Award
- IT Mastermind – 2013, All-Island 1st Runner Up
- IDEA Challenge organized by Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka, 2013, All-Island 1st Runner Up
- IEEE CodeExpertz 1.0 organized by University of Moratuwa, 2013, All-Island programming competition 1st Place.
- SEARCC International Schools’ Software Competition – Represented Sri Lankan team 2011 – 2nd Place and 2012, & 2013 – Participated
- Represented Sri Lanka at International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)2013 – Australia , 2014 – Taiwan and 2015 – Kazakhstan
- Represented Sri Lanka at Asia Pacific Informatics Olympiad (APIO Online)2013 – Singapore , 2014 – Kazakhstan , 2015 – Indonesia
Female ICT Leader of the Year award was won by Vishaka Nanayakkara
(Senior Lecturer/ Former Head ,Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa)
Vishaka Nanayakkara is graduated from University of Moratuwa, with a first class in Computer Science and Engineering in 1994 with the rare distinction of being the recipient of UNESCO gold medal for the student with the highest graduating average of the faculty of Engineering.
She obtained her Technical Licentiate in Computer Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
She joined the teaching faculty of the university upon graduation and was appointed the Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in 2005 and served in that capacity for six years. She is currently a senior lecturer.
During her sabbatical leave in 2011/12 she worked as the Dean, Faculty of Electrical and Information Technology at Northshore College of Business Technology where she was instrumental in setting up this new academic entity in Sri Lanka collaborating with a British University.
She was then appointed as the deputy project director of the Higher Education for the twenty first century (HETC) Project of the Ministry of Higher education of Sri Lanka. One of her main responsibilities was to enhance employability skills of the undergraduate students. Conducting ICT and English competency building programs and a common testing for all universities was one of her achievements during her two year tenure at the HETC project. She was very passionate on promoting the use of ICT for teaching and learning in both technical and non-technical faculties of the state universities and worked tirelessly to achieve that
Her research interests are on Network performance modeling and analysis; Technology based teaching, learning and assessment in education; E-learning & mobile learning and its implications on developing nations; and ICT for development. She has published in national and international foram on these topics. As a presenter who enjoys her public speaking she has made many country presentations at global gatherings on Higher Education in Sri Lanka.
As an academic who is committed to producing highly employable graduates Vishaka works very closely with the Sri Lankan IT industry. She is very passionate about expanding and improving the skilled IT work force in Sri Lanka.
CIO of the Year award was won by Saman Perera
(CIO –
Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd)
Over 24 years of proven industry experience and over 20 years of which at Management/ Senior Management level with Telecommunication Service providers.
Strong strategic business management skills with core technology background.
Key Achievements in ICT industry – has been the key architect and led teams of IT Professionals in the design and development of following key projects among many other
Complex, end-to-end Customer Care and Billing solution
covering all business operations for a Mobile service
provider (Mobitel) and for a Fixed line service provider
(Lanka Bell).
Complex Mobile Money, electronic reload
systems converging many technologies used by millions of
Customers Island wide.
An award winning ticketing system for Sri Lanka Railways, which automates the entire advanced seat booking system and facilitating the system as a national platform to all the telecommunication service providers.
Global award winning eVisa (electronic travel authority) portal / ecommerce solution integrated with payment gateways and backend systems for Department of Immigration and Emigration.
Has been a part of CSSL as a council member, speaker, panel member and a session chair in the NITC conferences.
Has been involved in the academic activities as a visiting
lecturer for MBA in Information Systems conducted by Faculty
of Graduate Studies, University of Colombo and serving as an
external resource person (Thesis Supervision) MBA in
Information Technology, Computer Science and Engineering
Department of University of Moratuwa.
Holds MBA in
Management of Technology from University of Moratuwa, MSc in
Computer Science and BSc from University of Colombo.
Currently working as Senior General Manger Information Systems for Mobitel.
ICT Leader of the Year award was won by Dr. Nayana
Dehigama
(Chairman/ Managing Director of EPIC
Technology Group)
Dr. Nayana is the Founder Chairman/ Managing Director of EPIC Technology Group, the renowned ICT solutions provider with a proven track record of 18 years. His company being one of an undisputed leaders of the Sri Lankan software industry has collected an unprecedented number of 64 national and international accolades in the past 6 years. The company won the National Business Excellence Award in ICT sector for the 3 consecutive years from 2008 to 2010. They also won the highest number of awards at the National Best Quality Software Awards 2011, which they achieved for the fourth time. Epic Lanka also won the first ever Gold Award for Sri Lanka at the Asia Pacific ICT Awards 2008. Nayana has commenced operations in several other countries in the region too.
Nayana holds a Doctoral Degree at the School of Management of the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand. Having acquired professional qualifications in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering, he also obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing Management and an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.
Nayana was adjudged the Sri Lankan Entrepreneur – Platinum Award Winner in 2012, and the most coveted Asia-Pacific Young Entrepreneur Award Winner in 2010 organized by the Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Nayana is a sort after Public Speaker in Entrepreneurship, Innovations, Career Guidance and Motivation. He has delivered many orations in prominent national and international forums and conferences. He also has delivered many guest lectures in most of the Universities and Professional Associations in Sri Lanka. Nayana is a past Chairman of Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs (COYLE).
National CSSL ICT Awards 2015 – Advertisement
Best ICT Student of the Year (Schools Category) |
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Female ICT Leader of the Year |
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CIO of the Year |
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ICT Leader of the Year |
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The annual CSSL Excellence in ICT Awards ceremony held at the kingsbury Hotel, Colombo. These awards intend to encourage, recognize and celebrate the excellence in ICT practice by rewarding the best and the finest of ICT professionals. The Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) is the premier organization dedicated to promoting and improving professional standards in the information communication technology sector.
In this year, the CSSL awarded three awards for ‘Emerging ICT Leader of the Year’, ‘Female ICT Leader of the Year’ and ‘ICT Leader of the Year’.
The Emerging ICT Leader of the Year award was won by Dhanika Perera.
Dhanika Perera is the Founder & CEO of Bhasha Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, a Sri Lanka based software company & a social enterprise dedicated for developing local language software solutions. He is the inventor of Sinhala rendering technology on Android platform & he invented SETT Browser as the first Sinhala/Tamil supported mobile web browser & Bhasha Helakuru as the first Sinhala soft-keyboard for Android, enabling local masses to get the benefit out of ICT solutions in their own languages. He founded his company Bhasha while he was following his bachelor’s degree at University of Moratuwa converting his professional life from an engineer to an entrepreneur. He was awarded the mBillionth South Asian Award in 2011, the e-Swabhimani National Award in 2011 & 2012 & the NBQSA National Award in 2012 for his innovations & honoured as the Emerging Entrepreneur in 2013 by University of Moratuwa.
The Female ICT Leader of the Year award was won by Lakmini Wijesundara
Lakmini Wijesundera is the co founder and CEO of Ironone Technologies. She has vast experience in enterprise software & Management, and as CEO of IronOne Technologies, she leads a team of over 100 technology professionals with offices spanned across USA, Malaysia and Sri Lanka with partner offices spanning many other countries such as Singapore, Philippines, South Africa, UK among others. She is the driving force behind IronOne’s technological breakthroughs and go to market strategies. Lakmini graduated from Imperial College, University of London in Engineering in 1994. Starting out her career as a Computer Engineer and progressed to lead her own Engineering firm which caters to globally ranked companies including Citi Bank, Prudential, Victoria Secrets, May Bank, Stock Exchange of Malaysia, Maxis Telecom which are all global leaders in their spheres. She now handles the global strategy, marketing, sales and operations by leading a highly talented handpicked super-team at Ironone technologies.
The ICT Leader of the Year award was won by Harsha Purasinghe
Harsha Purasinghe is a serial entrepreneur who founded number of technology ventures & contributed towards building notable products since his debut in software industry at the age of 19. Harsha is behind founding of Microimage, Microimage Mobile Media and Microimage HCM Asia in 1995, 2007 and 2014 respectively. Today, Microimage is considered the most successful High School Start Up Story in the ICT industry of Sri Lanka.
In 2013, Harsha founded WSO2 Mobile to build a suite of lean, enterprise, mobileware to solve enterprise mobility challenges. This was incorporated, as a fully owned subsidiary of WSO2 the leading open source middleware company. Harsha was recognized as the “Most outstanding entrepreneur in IT/BPO industry in Sri Lanka” in 2007. Harsha was also chosen to the list of 40 under 40 Business Leaders listing compiled by Echelon Magazine – A leading business magazine in Sri Lanka. He was also one of the 21 selected globally for the “2014 Eisenhower Innovation Fellowship” granted by the Eisenhower Fellowship in the US.
National CSSL ICT Awards 2014 – Advertisement
CSSL ICT Leader of the Year 2014 |
CSSL Female ICT Leader of the Year 2014 |
CSSL Emerging ICT Leader of the Year 2014 |
The annual CSSL Excellence in ICT Awards was inaugurated recently at the SEARCC International Conference held in Colombo. These awards intend to encourage, recognize and celebrate the excellence in ICT practice by rewarding the best and the finest of ICT professionals.
The Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) is the premier organization dedicated to promoting and improving professional standards in the information communication technology sector. In its inaugural year, the CSSL awarded three awards for ‘Emerging ICT Leader of the Year’, ‘Female ICT Leader of the Year’ and ‘ICT Leader of the Year’.
The Emerging ICT Leader of the Year award was won by Chamira Prasad Jayasinghe
Chamira is a serial entrepreneur, innovator and an avid programmer. Having obtained a Bachelor of Science (Hons) degree in information technology from the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology, he established a company of his own, Arimac Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. Currently, Arimac consists of 15 full time creative crew committing their effort for National and International Enterprises.
Upamalika Ratnayake became the Female ICT Leader of the Year
Upamalika is the CIO / Senior Deputy General Manager – ICT at Ceylinco Insurance PLC, Life Division. Upamalika counts nearly three decades of experience in the ICT industry. Her forte being the Information Systems and IS Audit.
The ICT Leader of the Year was Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarana
Dr. Sanjiva founded WSO2 in 2005 in order to reinvent the way enterprise middleware is developed, sold, delivered and supported through an open source model.
The awards presentation happened during the SEARCC International Conference.
National CSSL ICT Awards 2013 – Advertisement
CSSL ICT Leader of the Year 2013 |
CSSL Female ICT Leader of the Year 2013 |
CSSL Emerging ICT Leader of the Year 2013 |