KOCHI: The Ernakulam Press Club and Public Relations Council of India presented its first NIB Awards for outstanding contributions in the fields of media and public relations.
NIB Awards celebrate excellence in Indian PR, Media and Communications sectors (House Journals and Newsletters) and rewards media talents in Kerala.
In the media category, the winners were: Best Investigative Report - M R Harikumar, Malayala Manorama, Best Sports Report- Kamal Varadoor, Chandrika, Best Political Sattire - P M Manoj, Deshabhimani. The award for Best Photo Journalist was shared by Arun Chandrabose of Deccan Chronicle and N R Sudharmadas of Kerala Kaumudi. The Lifetime Contribution Award was conferred on C V Yesudas of Chandrika. In the visual media, Johny Lukose of MMTV bagged the award for the Best Interview, Nikesh Kumar of Reporter TV won the award for Best News Presenter, and Biju Pankaj of Mathrubhumi News won the award for the Best Investigative Reporter. The Best Sports Reporter award was presented to Anoop Sreedharan of Amrita TV and S Jayamohan Nair won the award for the Best Political Satire. Mathrubhumi’s Binu Thomas was chosen the Best Cameraman.
Reserve Bank of India bagged five awards in different categories. Along with RBI, major PSUs like NTPC, Power Finance Corporation Ltd, HLL Life care Ltd., Bank of India, KSIDC, CIAL, BEML and private sector firms like Federal Bank, Wockhardt and IBS shared the esteemed awards in the house magazine category. Wockhardt bagged three awards. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, industry minister P K Kunhalikutty, and excise, fisheries and ports minister K Babu gave away the awards.
Benny Behanan, MLA and Hibi Eden, MLA participated. C K Menon chairman and MD of Behzad Group of Companies, Qatar, won the Global Business Leadership Award. The Business Icon of the Year award was won by M Ayyappan, chairman and MD, HLL Life Care Ltd, and Srikanth Bhasi, Chairman, Carnival Group. The Promising entrepreneur award went to K Muralidharan, MD, SFC Group, UAE, the Effective PR Manager award went to George Thomas, Chief Manager (Estates and Admn) of Bharath Petroleum Corporation-KRL, Best Corporate Brand went to Federal Bank, and NGO Par Excellence award was bagged by Jenaseva Shishubhavan, Aluva.
The media and PR awards were judged by an independent jury of experts. In connection with the inaugural awards, a media and PR workshop was held, featuring lectures by media professionals, Dominic Savio and Joe A Scaria. PRCI chairman emeritus M B Jayaram, PRCI Kerala Chapter chairman U S Kutty, secretary T Vinay Kumar, Ernakulam Press Club secretary S Unnikrishnan, vice-president R Sasikanth and treasurer K B A Kareem participated.