Ada Derana was announced the Winner of the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia 2010 in the e-News & Media category at the Gala awards ceremony being held in New Delhi a short while ago.

The Manthan Award, organized by the Department of Information Technology, Govt. of India recognizes and rewards best e-content from eight countries in the South Asian region.

Ada Derana was the only Sri Lankan website to be selected within a total of four finalists who have been chosen for the e-News & Media category this year; the other three finalists are from India,Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The Manthan Award 2010 received over 450 applications and after multiple rigorous rounds of discussions and voting, 77 nominations have been selected as finalists.

Manthan Award is a first of its kind initiative in India to recognize the best practices in e-Content and Creativity. It (http://www.manthanaward.org) was launched on 10th October 2004 by Digital Empowerment Foundation in partnership with World Summit Award, Department of Information Technology, Govt. of India, and various other stakeholders inclusive of civil society members, media and other similar organisations engaged in promoting digital content inclusiveness in the whole of South Asian nation states for development.

Since then, the Award has come to define the very best in e-Content for development arena in India. Now, after four immensely successful years, the organisers have expanded and their areas of operation now cover all of the SAARC countries namely India, Pakistan,Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka,Maldives, Bhutan & Afghanistan.