Dilrukshi Handunnetti is an international award-winning investigative journalist, senior editor, trainer, researcher, and a rights advocate. She co-founded the Colombo-based Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) and is presently employed as Mongabay’s Sri Lanka editor. She led the investigations desk at The Sunday Leader, and later held top editorial positions including Consultant Editor at the Weekend Express and Senior Associate Editor of the Sunday Observer. The recipient of over 15 local and international awards for her excellence in investigative reporting, covering the environment and column writing, Handunnetti has bagged the most prestigious journalism awards at home including the award for Reporting Under Special Circumstances in 2012. In June 2022, Dilrukshi won the prestigious Journalist of Courage and Impact Award presented by the Hawaii-based East West Center, and in November 2022, secured the coveted Vital Voices Fellowship offered exclusively to outstanding women leaders worldwide. Her work has appeared in the UK Guardian, Al Jazeera, The New Humanitarian, Himal Southasian, The New York Times and more. Currently, she is a columnist with the New Indian Express.
