The International Press Institute (India chapter) has conferred the 2024 ‘Award for Excellence in Journalism 2024′ on The Week’s Bhanu Prakash Chandra for his coverage of the Ukraine war. The award consists of ₹2 lakh, a memento and a certificate.
The Week reported that the award was presented by Supreme Court Justice Abhay Sreenivas Oka, who said that “for democracy to survive and fundamental rights to remain intact, the judiciary has a crucial role to play in protecting journalists. Retired Justice Madan B Lokur, Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksandr Polishchuk, former home secretary GK Pillai, and CEO & Editor-in-Chief of Press Trust of India Vijay Joshi shared the stage.
Special awards and citations were also given to several media outlets for their coverage of the Manipur conflict. The winners included The Hindu’s Vijaita Singh, India Today’s Ashutosh Mishra, Scroll’s Arunabh Saikia and Tora Agarwala, The Print team of Sonal Matharu, Ananya Bhardwaj, Praveen Jain, Sreyashi Dey, Suraj Singh Bisht, Moushumi Das Gupta, and Karishma Hasnat and The Caravan’s Greeshma Kuthar.
Nearly 100 people assembled at the Constitution Club in Delhi to honor the journalists whose work on the Manipur crisis stood out for its depth and impact, The Print reported.
The press institute said that the decision was taken as a “mark of appreciation and acknowledgment of the media’s efforts to bring out the various facets of the human tragedy caused by the civil strife” in Manipur.
Since May 3, 2023, at least 258 persons have been killed and more than 59,000 persons displaced due to clashes between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zo-Hmars communities in the state, Scroll reported.
The International Press Institute, based in Vienna, is a global organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. Its India chapter comprises editors, publishers and senior executives of newspapers, magazines and news agencies.
The jury comprises Lokur, writer Shobhaa De, Vijay Joshi and Riyad Mathew, chairman IPI- India.
