COLOMBO (UCAN) — Christian writers received awards for their contributions to Sri Lankan Christian literature at the first National Christian Literary Festival, which the government and Christian community jointly organized.

Church and civil leaders during the inauguration National Christian Literary Festival in Colombo on Oct. 6. The festival organized for the first time by the government and the Christian community to recognize contributions of Christian writers.

Archbishop Oswald Gomis of Colombo and Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake attended the Oct. 6 event at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo.

The religious affairs ministry’s Department of Christian Religious Affairs and the Catholic and Protestant Churches organized the event, which drew about 2,000 people including Catholic and Protestant Church leaders, and Buddhist monks.

About 200 school students who won essay-writing, singing and speaking competitions in English, Sinhalese and Tamil also received awards.

Prime Minister Wickremanayake, a Buddhist, praised the efforts of Christian writers, saying they wrote tirelessly in local languages to promote Christian values, which they succeeded in spreading.

“We must accept that what politicians have failed to do, these writers have fulfilled,” he told the gathering.

The prime minister noted the contribution of the late Father Jacome Gonsalves, “the father of Sinhalese Catholic literature,” who published many books. Father Gonsalves, an Indian missioner, arrived on the island in 1707. He learned Sinhalese with Buddhist monks and used the patterns of their Buddhist chants to compose a popular local rendering of the story of Jesus.

In the keynote address, Sunil Ariyaratna, dean of the Sinhalese language department of the University of Sri Jayawardhanapura in Colombo, said Christians have played a role in nourishing Sri Lankan literature. He called on Church leaders to publish a book on Christian writers to encourage the younger generation to take an interest in this field.

Three writers were given trophies for their service to Christian literature.

Italian Jesuit Father Vito Perniola during the Christian Literary Festival in Colombo on Oct. 6. He was awarded for the efforts he has put into his nine-volume History of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka.

Italian Jesuit Father Vito Perniola received his award for the efforts he has put into his nine-volume History of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka.

Father Nicolapillai Maria Saveri, founder and director of the Centre for Performing Arts, was cited for his efforts in promoting Christian arts and culture. Both priests accepted the awards on stage.

Hector Welgampola, who was not present, was cited for his 50 years of service to Catholic media. Welgampola served as editor of the two Colombo-based Catholic weeklies in Sri Lanka, the English-language Messenger and Sinhalese-language Gnanartha Pradeepaya (lamp of wisdom). He then served as executive editor of UCA News from 1987 until his retirement in 2001. He also compiled the recently published Asian Church Glossary and Stylebook.

A.R. Gunawardana, director of the Department of Christian Religious Affairs, explained that the Christian students who received awards came from around the island and had earlier competed in the country’s three official languages. The winners were awarded prizes and certificates, and it was notable that many winners came from remote villages, he told UCA News.

Thousands of Christian books are currently in print in Sri Lanka on subjects including Christian history, catechism, liturgy and social issues, in addition to the newspapers and magazines in the country’s three main languages.