the 22nd sumathi awards ceremony was celebrated at the nelum pokuna theatre on 20 september 2017 with the participation of honorable speaker karu jayasuriya as the chief guest. in the best award category, sumathi award for the best teledrama actor was won by sumith rathnayake and best teledrama actress was umali thilakarathne. in popular award category, kavinga perera won the most popular actor award for the third consecutive time, whereas nayanathara wickramaarchchi won the most popular actress award. the u.w. sumathipala memorial award was given to, veteran actress nita fernando and swarna mallawarachchi. out of 43 awards given, teledrama "maddahana" won 9 awards including best actor, director, television series, script and lyrics.