The Kala Keerthi () is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n national honour awarded "''for extraordinary achievements and contributions in arts, culture and drama''". It is the highest national honour for arts, culture and drama in Sri Lanka. It is conventionally used as a title or prefix to the awardee's name. Kala Keerthi ranks lower than Vidya Jyothi.

Awardees

Awardees include: ;1986 * Wannakuwattawaduge Don Amaradeva * Rohan de Saram * Dayananda Ekanatha Hettiarachchi * George Keyt *

Lester James Peries Sri Lankabhimanya Lester James Peries (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකාභිමාන්‍ය ලෙස්ටර් ජේම්ස් පීරිස්; 5 April 1919 – 29 April 2018) was a Sri Lankan film director, ...

;1987 * Ananda Weihena Palliya Guruge * Prof

Nandadasa Kodagoda Deshamanya Nandadasa Kodagoda MRCP (31 October 1929 – 2 August 1997) was a Sri Lankan medical doctor and academic who was Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo. Kodagoda graduated as a MBBS doctor in 1956 and initially worked for gove ...

* Anton Wickremasinghe ;1988 * Prof Thomas Earle Joseph de Fonseka * Dr Punchi Bandara Sannasgala * Varindra Tarzie Vittachi ;1989 * Eileen Siriwardhana * Alankarage Victor Suraweera * Lorna Srimathie Dewaraja * Jinadasa Vijayatunge ;1990 * Miniwandeni Pathirannehelage Tillakaratna * Arumugam Kandiah ;1991 * Wimal Abayasundera * Diongu Badaturuge Nihalsinghe ;1992 *

Edwin Ariyadasa Kala Keerthi Wijetunga Karunaratne Edwin Ariyadasa (3 December 1922 – 22 January 2021: ), popularly known as Edwin Ariyadasa, was a Sri Lankan Sinhalese journalist. He was a well known newspaper editor, author and a media consultant. Consider ...

* Ananda Salgado Kulasooriya ;1993 * Sembuge Shelton Gamini Fonseka * Miguel Hewage Goonatilleka * Chitra Malinee Jayasinghe Peris * Ponniah Poologasingham * Jayadeva Tilakasiri * Vini Vitharana ;1994 * Pinnaduwa Hewa Cyril de Silva Kulathilaka * Chitrasena * Swarna Jayaweera * Sinnathamby Thillainathan * Madawala Sirisena Ratnayake * Wimal Wickrama Surendra * Mawanana Hewa Peter Silva * Anuradha Seneviratne * Nambukara Thanthrige Karunaratna Gunapala Senadheera * Ashley Halpe ;1998 * Premasiri Kemadasa * Irangani Serasinghe * Regi Siriwardena * Dharmasiri Jayakody * Nalini Jayasuriya ;2005 * A. J. Canagarathnam * A. Jesurasa * A. Sivananthan * Asoka Handagama * Bharahmasri Sarveswara Sarma * Carl Muller *

Dharmasena Pathiraja Pathiraja Navaratne Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Ranjith Dharmasena (28 March 1943 – 28 January 2018) was a Sri Lankan film director and screenwriter. He has been referred to as a 'rebel with a cause', an ‘''enfant terrible'' of the '70s', and ...

* Dharmasiri Bandaranayake * Enid Anula Aluvihare De Silva * Gamini Haththotuwegama * Geetha Kumarasinghe * Gnarathan * Henry Jayasena * Jackson Anthony *

Jayalath Manoratne Keselgaspe Manatunga Jayalath Manoratne (; 12 June 1948 – 12 January 2020) was an actor in Sri Lankan cinema, stage drama and television. He was a lecturer by profession as well as a director and producer. A highly versatile actor from drama ...

* Karthigesu Sivathamby * Kulanthai M. shunmugalingam *

Latha Walpola Deshamanya Matharage Rita Genevieve Fernando, better known by her stage name Latha Walpola (), is a Sri Lankan singer. Her fans refer to her as "The Nightingale of Sri Lanka" Personal life Walpola was born on 11 November 1934 in Mount-Lavini ...

* M. Kanakasabai * Malini Fonseka * Monica Ruwanpathirana (Posthumous) * Olga De Livera * T. B. Richard M. Don Gabriel * Pandithar Sachchithanantham * Prasanna Vithanage * Rohana Weerasinghe * S. Maunaguru * S. Pani Bharatha (Posthumous) * Sanath Gunathilake * Sanath Nandasiri * Santhini Sevanesan * Shyam Selvadurai * Sybil Wettasinghe * Simon Navagattegama (Posthumous) * Somalatha Subasinghe * Sri Jayana Rajapakse *

Sumitra Peries Sumitra Peries (March 24, 1935–January 19, 2023) was a Sri Lankan filmmaker. She was the first female film director from Sri Lanka. and was known as the "Poetess of Sinhala Cinema". She also held the post of Sri Lanka's ambassador to France, ...

* Swarna Mallawarachchi * Tilak Abeysinghe * Tissa Ranasinghe *

Vimukthi Jayasundara Kala Keerthi Vimukthi Jayasundara () is a Sri Lankan filmmaker, critic and a visual artist. Jayasundara is the first Sri Lankan to win the Caméra d'Or, in 2005. Life and career Vimukthi Jayasundara was born in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka but comes ...

* Vasantha Obeysekera ;2017 http://www.sundaytimes.lk/170319/news/national-honours-after-12-years-233395.html 2017 National Honour Awardees List * Arun Dias Bandaranaike * Edmand Ranasinghe * G. Kartini Drahaman Mohamed * George Edmond Jayasinghe * Gunawardhana Mudalige Ajith Hemachandra * Hapuwalanege Don Ariyadasa (Dasa Hapuwalana) * Herman Ronald Lakshman De Alwis *

Ivor Dennis Kala Keerthi Pasquel Ge Don Augustine Ivor Dennis () (28 May 1932 – 18 June 2018) was a popular Sri Lankan veteran playback singer who was also known as the former student of veteran icon Sunil Santha. He was well known for establishing ...

* Kurukulasuriya Eligius Camillus Perera * Lalitha Sarathchandra * Lionel Bentharage * Madhubhashini Disanayaka Ratnayaka * Namel Weeramuni * Nanayakkarage Sumana Jayatillake * Nellampitiya Pathirana Arachchige Dayawathi (Daya Nellampitiya) * Ranasinghe Arachchige Jayantha Prema Lal Hegoda * Saravanai Vinayagamoorthy * Singarampillai Thillanadarajah * Suminda Sirisena * Suresh Maliyadde * Sunanda Mahendra * Wijesinghe Arachchilage Abeysingha

References

External links

Civil awards and decorations of Sri Lanka {{SriLanka-stub