Sri Lanka’s YES 101 has taken a popular weekly chart show for local English artists and created an awards ceremony to salute the country’s best musical talent.

The YES 101 Home Grown Awards took place at Stein Studios, a film studio owned by its parent media company Maharaja, in the town of Rathmalana on Saturday.

Nine categories were up for grabs including Best Male, Best Female, Best Band, Duo or Group, Best Hip Hop, Reggae or Rap Track, Best Electronica Track, Best Cover, Best Acoustic Track, YES Home Grown Honor Awards and YES Home Grown Listeners Pick 2013.

Ten acts alone were shortlisted for the listener vote, which took place by SMS in the lead up to the awards.

The station picked top music professionals to be part of the judging panel to help select winners in the other categories.

According to its website, YES 101 has always championed the local music scene, creating a monthly Home Grown music show, which eventually became a Top 15 countdown presented by Yazmin Yousuf.

We’ll list some of the winners as soon as the details come in.