Sri Lanka celebrates winners of Young Lions 2025

 Winners of the Young Marketers Competition (from left): Nuwan Rathnayake, Savani Ranaweera, and Nethmi Edirisinghe from 

Nestlé Lanka

Metal Factor Founder Ranil de Silva (left) with the Next Generation Leader scholarship winner Mullenlowe Senior Vice President and Executive Creative Director Harendra Uyanage 

From left: Roar Media Chief Commercial Officer Prash Balakrishnan with the winners of the Young Lions Digital category, Roar Media’s Verandhi Wadugodapitiya and Ayesha Weerarathne

Metal Factor Founder Ranil de Silva (left) and winner of the Young Lions Media Competition MullenLowe's Ayindhie Alles 

• Announces inaugural Next Generation Leader scholarship

Metal Factor, the Sri Lankan representative of the Cannes Lions programs and the Sri Lankan advertising and marketing community has announced the winners of the Young Lions Competition 2025 and the Next Generation Leader 2025 initiative, both vital components in nurturing the next wave of creative leadership in the industry.

This program organised annually to spotlight the most promising young talent in the communications industry was revived after a hiatus of five years post COVID and the other challenges the industry faced. The Young Lions Competition received 26 applications across six categories: Design, Digital, Print, PR, Media, and TV. This year, winners were selected in the Digital and Media categories.

The Sri Lankan competition also drew on the expertise of 18 of the country’s leading advertising professionals, who came together to evaluate all of the submissions. 

In a significant move to foster emerging senior leadership, Metal Factor said it is proud to launch the Next Generation Leader Scholarship. This initiative offers a partial scholarship for a high-potential industry leader (age 35–50) to attend the Cannes Lions 2025, with the aim of empowering Sri Lanka’s future visionaries in advertising, media, and communications.

Metal Factor’s Ranil de Silva said: “In the past decade, we’ve helped over 100 young professionals gain global exposure through the Young Lions program. But we’ve seen far fewer future industry leaders at the festival—those just shy of C-suite role getting the opportunity to participate at the festival. This scholarship bridges that gap. “I am exceptionally grateful to Douglas Khoo for providing the funding to execute this scholarship in memory of his late wife and my dear friend Yong Lye Peng.” 

The inaugural Next Gen Leader scholarship was awarded to Harendra Uyanage, Senior Vice President and Executive Creative Director of Mullen Lowe. He was chosen by a panel of leading professionals from the advertising, media and marketing professions. 

Young Lions 2025 – Winners

Digital Category

• Verandhi Wadugodapitiya – Roar Media
• Ayesha Weerarathne – Roar Media

Media Category

• Ayindhie Alles – MullenLowe
• Amanda Portier – MullenLowe

Meanwhile, the Young Marketers Competition, conducted in partnership with the SLIM (Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing), announced the following winners: 

Marketers Category

• Nethmi Edirisinghe – Nestlé Lanka
• Savani Ratnaweera – Nestlé Lanka

These winners will represent Sri Lanka at the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025, joining the global creative elite in celebrating groundbreaking ideas and innovation.

This announcement marks another milestone in Sri Lanka’s growing presence on the global creative stage and reinforces the industry’s dedication to nurturing both rising stars and future leaders.

The Young Lions Competitions held in Cannes is where the next generation of creative stars go head-to-head with each other, all vying for the coveted gold. The program is only open to professionals who are 30 or under and it is designed to celebrate and unleash the potential of the industry’s young talent. Founded in 1954, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a five-day program that focuses on creative inspiration, celebration, education and networking. Over 15,000 delegates from around 100 countries attend the festival, making it the only truly global meeting-place for communications professionals to connect, share and discover the latest advancements, trends and innovations in the industry. The most coveted creative accolades, The Lions, are also judged and presented at the festival. 

Metal Factor, the facilitator of the Young Lions Competitions in Sri Lanka, was established by renowned advertising professional Ranil de Silva who set up the project as a CSR initiative to support the industry, which has been personally rewarding for him. Metal Factor is the Sri Lankan representative for some of the world’s most respected festivals. By its association with these festivals, Metal Factor provides young professionals in Sri Lanka with the opportunity to gain valuable experience by participating in the various competitions. Metal Factor is committed to uplifting the standards of the marketing communications industry in Sri Lanka and is dedicated to helping Sri Lanka’s ad industry gain global acclaim.