Hashela Kumarawansa is living proof that hard work doesn’t go unrewarded.
The 20-year-old Hillside resident will be heading over to Japan next year to combine her two passions – journalism and Japan.
Ms Kumarawansa will be stationed at Tokyo writing for the country’s most widely-read English newspaper – the Japan Times.
She was awarded a travel scholarship through the Australia Japan Foundation media internships.
“I can’t wait to actually speak Japanese and experience the culture,” an excited Ms Kumarawansa said.
“I can’t wait to see first-hand what I’ve read in the textbooks I’ve been studying since prep and to work in a journalistic environment.”
This year was an “emotional roller-coaster” for Ms Kumarawansa, who applied for a variety of internship positions but wasn’t successful.
“I was complaining to so many people about how upset I had been feeling about the year and so the Japan Times internship is a welcoming prospect, to say the least.”
Ms Kumarawansa won a United Nations peace prize in 2011 for a poem written in commemoration of the 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings.
She will immerse herself in Japanese culture and a journalism environment for four weeks in June and will be documenting her travels and experiences at www.hashelakumarawansa.wordpress.com
