Seven Journalists Receive Humanitarian Reporting Awards 2019

Seven young journalists of the country, pertaining to mainstream broadcast (Urdu), mainstream print (Urdu), mainstream print (English) and Online (English and Urdu) received Humanitarian Reporting Awards - 2019 in an impressive ceremony here on Thursday

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Oct, 2019 ) :Seven young journalists of the country, pertaining to mainstream broadcast (Urdu), mainstream print (Urdu), mainstream print (English) and Online (English and urdu) received Humanitarian Reporting Awards - 2019 in an impressive ceremony here on Thursday.

The Awards, jointly organized by the Centre for Excellence in Journalism at the Institute of business Administration (CEJ-IBA), Karachi and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the third consecutive year encompassed issues as violence against healthcare workers, disaster reporting, issues related to people with disabilities, disaster response/preparedness and so-forth.

The awards, which were held for the third year, were organized to promote ethical, accurate and responsible reporting on humanitarian or similar issues.

The winners and runners-up in the four categories included Winner: Bushra Qamar - 92 News HD and Runner-up: Sidra Azhar Dar - Voice of America pertaining to Mainstream Broadcast (Urdu).

Muhammad Atif Sheikh, a freelance journalist was the winner in the mainstream print (Urdu) category while the award in the mainstream print (English) was clinched by Manesh Kumar, also a freelance journalist followed by Sabrina Toppa (freelance journalist) as the runner-up.

The winner and runner-up in the Online (English & Urdu) category were Kaukab Shairani of Express Tribune and Mahwish Qayyum, a freelance journalist.

Winners and runners-up were selected by a panel of senior journalists from a total of 278 entries from across the country, for their news stories published between 17 September, 2018 to 20 August, 2019.

Jury members included Raza Hamdani, consultant Editor of The Independent in Pakistan; Dr. Seemi Naghmana Tahir, Chairperson Department of Mass Communication, University of Karachi; Mehmal Sarfraz, Co-Founder of The Current; and Kamal Siddiqi, Director CEJ.

Former Chairperson Human Rights Commission Zohra Yusuf speaking on the occasion appreciated the organizers for the initiative.

"This is an area of reporting that is much needed in Pakistan as well as all over the world," she said referring to growing instances of conflicts and natural disasters leading to humanitarian related crises.

Raza Hamdani, one of jury members pointed out the lack of focus on humanitarian reporting in the country and appreciated the efforts of CEJ and ICRC for encouraging the young journalists.

Jamal Khan, Deputy Head of Delegation ICRC, elaborated on the collaboration with CEJ-IBA, including a series of workshops on humanitarian reporting.

"This partnership entails a very robust Calendar of activity throughout the year," he said while being appreciative of commitments and sacrifices made by many of the journalists to uphold ethics of responsible reporting.

"The ceremony held today is to recognize these selfless individual commitments," he said.