MUMBAI: Swaroop Swaminathan of the New Indian Express was presented the RedInk Best Sports Feature Story Award for his piece on Mariyappan Thangavelu, the Rio Paralympics gold medallist, by the Mumbai Press Club on Wednesday.
The prestigious awards function is one of the handful of platforms to reward excellence in journalism in the country. Instituted by a professional body, it is aimed at raising the bar for news and feature writing. It also encourages fair play and roots for high ethical standards in media.
The awards function, which took place in the evening at the Jamshed Bhaba Hall of the National Centre for Performing Arts here, was attended by a number of eminent personalities from the media and other walks of life. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was the chief guest and handed over the trophy and a cheque for `1 lakh to Swaroop.
The juries in the sports section were former India wicketkeeper Kiran More, badminton Olympian Aparna Popat, former national badminton coach Sanjay Sharma and senior journalist Ayaz Memon.
Swaroop, principal correspondent in the sports section of the New Indian Express based in Chennai, had travelled to Mariyappan’s house in Salem, after the athlete’s gold-winning effort in high jump (T42 category) in Rio. The piece appeared in a special supplement on September 16, titled ‘The Myth of Mariyappan’.
Awards were given in different categories including business, environment, human rights, photography, science and innovation, entertainment and lifestyle, sports, wellness as well as one for the ‘Mumbai star reporter’. There were also awards for the ‘Journalist of the Year’ and one for ‘Lifetime Achievement’.