Several newspaper editors walked out of the Presidential Media Awards ceremony as they were not given appropriate seats by the organizers. 

Speaking to Asian Mirror, a newspaper editor said he was asked to sit in the balcony by the organizers. 

"Usually, newspaper editors and media heads are given prominent seats in any media awards ceremony. When we went there, we come to the realization that the organizers were reluctant to give newspaper editors their due place. So we walked out," he added. 

He also added that strong concerns have been raised on some of the choices made by the panel of judges who selected award winners. 

"Serious questions have already been raised over some awards presented to the English media. Some elections are extremely poor and it appears that the panel of judges had no understanding of what they were doing."

The award ceremony was organized by the President's Office and the Media Ministry. Northern Province Governor Suren Raghavan, a close ally of President Maithripala Sirisena, was also among the speakers who addressed the event. 

Meanwhile, the Free Media Movement (FMM) also decided to boycott the award ceremony on the grounds that the current government made little progress on pursuing action against attacks on journalists.