in 1995, there were 32 awards in total, categorized into 4 sections - best awards, popular awards, commercial awards and merit awards. in 1996 at the second sumathi awards ceremony, u.a sumathipala award was introduced. since 2000, awards were given under those above five categories. in 2000 sumathi awards, jury award category was included. with that six categories were awarded until 2011. in 2011 sumathi awards, news and other broadcasting category was introduced. in 2014 sumathi awards, the child award category was introduced. since then, 50-55 sumathi awards have been awarded under 8 categories.