BHUBANESWAR: The third edition of The Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity 2010-11(Eastern region), which is being supported by UNFPA, was presented at a glittering ceremony at Jaydev Bhawan here.
The Laadli, a girl child campaign, is an initiative of a Mumbai-based civil society organisation Population First. “As the spectre of a phenomenal decline in the sex ratio haunts the country, we decided to take on this challenge by partnering with media, which, in fact, has the resources and the outreach to tackle this challenge. Our Trust decided that the Laadli campaign should not pursue the limited cause of declining sex ratio, rather we strive for the entire spectrum of gender justice through gender sensitivity. Thus was born the novel idea of Laadli Media Awards, where contributions from mediapersons highlighting the entire gamut of gender issues are being acknowledged. I am very happy to say that after just two years these awards have gained national recognition and have also enhanced the interest among journalists,” said SV Sista, executive trustee of Population First, in his welcome address.
Dr AL Sharada, a functionary of Population First, disclosed that for the first time this award ceremony is being held in Orissa as earlier the eastern region was clubbed with the northern region. “We received over 200 entries from the print, electronic and web media from 12 states including north eastern states. Our empanelled jury comprising eminent journalists and intellectuals includes Harekrishna Deka, Prashanta Baruah, Buroshiv Dasgupta, Srimoy Kar, Rajaram Satapathy, Sampad Mahapatra and Mira Desai have chosen 25 journalists for promoting the cause of gender sensitivity,” she added.
In the Print media category, the best feature award was conferred on Arup Shandilya from Nandini (Assam), Tapati Baruah Kashyap for best column, Nandita Dutta for best human interest story, Soma Mukhopadhyay of ABP for best investigative feature, Ajitha Menon of Business Line for best English feature, Chandrima Bhattacharya of The Telegraph for best investigative story in English, Dola Mitra of Outlook for best feature (magazine), Jayalakshmi Sengupta of Deccan Herald for best article, Nivedita Jha of Nai Duniya for best Hindi news report. In the electronic media, Kumud Das of News Live got award for best human interest story, Gayatri Bhattacharjee of NDTV for best news report, Ritusmita Biswas for best article. Teresa Rehman of India Together was chosen for the best web feature.
From Orissa, as many as eight journalists have bagged the coveted award. In the print category, Sanjeev Kumar Patro from ‘The New Indian Express’ was chosen for best English news report, Jyostna Routray of The Sambad for best opinion in Oriya, Rabindra Prasad Dani of the The Sambad for the best human interest story, Shibani Mohanty and Atasi Rath of The Sambad for best feature. Gayatri Mohanty of OTV and Sarada Lahangir of ANI got the award for the best topical programme and the best news report in the electronic media category. Sarojini Sahoo,a columnist, won the award in best English blog.
The awards were presented by eminent personalities including Padmabhushan Sitakant Mahapatra, Jaggi Mangat Panda, CMD of Ortel, State Election Commissioner Tarun Kanti Mishra, eminent surgeon Sujata Kar and SWC chairman Jyoti Panigrahi.