New Delhi: The International Press Institute (IPI) India Award for Excellence in Journalism-2021 has been awarded jointly to Sreenivasan Jain and Mariyam Alavi of NDTV, and Lakshmi Subramanian and Bhanu Praksh Chandra of The Week.
Jain and Alavi have been awarded for their report on “untruthfulness of the cases of forcible conversion registered against young men belonging to the Muslim community who had married Hindu women in Uttar Pradesh, in the name of love Jihad”, a statement issued by IPI on Saturday said.
The award has been jointly given to Subramanian and Praksh Chandra of The Week on their report on tracing Indians, especially women, who were trapped in refugee camps in the civil war-torn regions of Syria and Iraq.
The team presented the extremely distressing conditions and the immense dangers faced not only by Indians but other refugees, the statement said.
The award comprises a cash prize of Rs one Lakh, a trophy and a citation to each team.
The selection was made by a jury of editors headed by former Supreme Court judge Madan B Lokur after considering the entries received.
The Excellence in Journalism Award 2020 had been awarded to Ritika Chopra of The Indian Express for her exclusive reports on the internal fissures in the Election Commission of India on complaints on Model Code of Conduct violation against VVIPs.
However, the Award ceremony could not be conducted due to restrictions on public functions necessitated due to COVID-19 conditions.
The Awards for 2020 and 2021 will be presented at a function in New Delhi in December 2021/January 2022.
The Award has been given to 16 media organisations and journalists in print and electronic media so far.
The Indian Chapter of the IPI is an active forum of editors, publishers and senior executives of newspapers, magazines and news agencies, all of whom are members of the International Press Institute.
The Indian Chapter has successfully hosted the World Congress and General Assembly of the IPI in India in 1966 and 2001, and is taking up various issues related to press freedom.
Founded 71 years ago in New York by a group of editors from 15 countries, the IPI has grown into a truly global organisation committed to the furtherance of the freedom of press.
The Vienna-based IPI is committed to promotion of free exchange of accurate and balanced news among nations.
It has also been in the forefront of safeguarding the freedom of the press through protests to governments and organisations against any violation of press freedom and restrictions imposed on the free flow of information.
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