A proud moment for the Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna, as SinhalaLM by HelaAI – Sinhala Language Model receives the Gold Award in the Best Sinhala/Tamil AI & Localisation Innovation category at the National AI Awards 2026.
The National AI Awards 2026, held as part of Sri Lanka AI Week, recognise significant achievements in Artificial Intelligence across industry, academia, startups, and the wider AI ecosystem. The awards include dedicated recognition for innovations that address Sri Lanka’s local needs, including the Best Sinhala/Tamil AI & Localisation Innovation category. (AI WEEEK 2026)
SinhalaLM is a language model developed by HelaAI to understand and generate natural Sinhala text. It is being developed with the aim of better capturing the grammar, vocabulary, meaning, and different ways Sinhala is used in real-world communication.The project initially started as part of Rextro, and as the work and vision around SinhalaLM continued to grow, the team later came together under a dedicated group named HelaAI.
The Gold Award recognizes the work behind this effort and marks an important milestone in the journey of developing local-language AI technology in Sri Lanka. The project went through the National AI Awards’ evaluation process, which included application screening, a shortlisted presentation and viva, and final jury evaluation. (AI WEEEK 2026)
The Team Behind SinhalaLM
– Chamara Vishwajith – Undergraduate, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna
– Dr. Kushan Sudheera – Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna
– Dineth Jayakody – PhD Student, Old Dominion University, United States of America
