The Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards, instituted by the Ramnath Goenka Foundation, was held Wednesday in the presence of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, who was the chief guest at the event. A total of 43 winners from 2019 and 2020 — who could not be honoured earlier owing to the pandemic — were felicitated this year in New Delhi.
The awards, every year, celebrate the legacy of the founder of The Indian Express Group, acknowledging and honouring the excellence in journalism. The prize-winning stories revolved around the pandemic, including, overburdened health infrastructure, migrant exodus, plight of frontline workers, unemployment, rumours, and unreported deaths. Other stories ranged from the aftermath of the Hathras gangrape case, cybersecurity, climate change, to sexual harassment of athletes, among others.
The CJI, in his speech, applauded the profession of journalism, and said, “I am tremendously impressed by the depth and breadth of the reportage that journalists in our country engage in. To those journalists who have not won today – you are no less a winner in the game of life for yours is a noble profession.”
He went on to reflect on the professions of both law and journalism in his speech, and said, “journalists and lawyers (or judges, as in my case) share some things in common. Of course, persons of both professions are fierce believers of the aphorism that the pen is mightier than the sword. But, they also share the occupational hazard of being disliked by virtue of their professions – no easy cross to bear. But members of both professions keep at their daily tasks and hope that one day, the reputations of their professions will receive a makeover.”
Here’s the full list of winners of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards:
| Winner | Category | Media Organisation | Story |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anand Choudhary | Hindi — Print (2019) | Dainik Bhaskar | Exploring the dark underbelly of Rajasthan’s villages in its three tribal districts, where children can be “bought” for just Rs 50-150 |
| Sushil Kumar Mohapatra | Hindi — Broadcast (2019) | NDTV India | How Haryana suddenly had the most cancer deaths in the country in 2017 even though it did not figure at the top in 2016 |
| Jyoti Yadav & Bismee Taskin | Hindi — Print (2020) | The Print | The migrant exodus across rural Uttar Pradesh and Bihar; the dejection, the exhaustion, the hunger and more |
| Ashutosh Mishra | Hindi — Broadcast (2020) | Aaj Tak | Bodies floating in the Ganga in May 2021; the scale, the specter of death and the apathy |
| Aniket Vasant Sathe | Regional Languages – Print (2019) | Loksatta | 296 dams in urgent need of repairs in a state with the highest number of dams in India; the neglect, the apathy and the failure |
| Sunil Baby | Regional Languages – Broadcast (2019) | Media One TV | Jharkhand’s Jharia village that has been living over a subterranean fire burning for over a century; the trials, the tribulations and the danger |
| Sreelakshmi M, Rose Maria Vincent, Shabitha MK | Regional Languages — Print (2020) | Mathrubhumi.Com | Children’s safety in the virtual world during the lockdown; the concern, the predators and the victims |
| Shrikant Bangale | Regional Languages – Broadcast (2020) | BBC News Marathi | The rise, the fall and the rise of the ‘Masala Queen’ in a tiny Maharashtra village; the grit, the impact and the resurgence |
| Team PARI | Environment, Sciences and Technology Reporting – Print (2019) | People’s Archive of Rural India | Relentless, tenacious and unmatched coverage of the effects of climate change on farmers, pastoral communities, fisherfolk, nomadic communities, etc., across India |
| Team Scroll.in | Environment, Sciences and Technology Reporting – Broadcast (2019) | Scroll.in | Women agricultural labourers in Maharashtra learning sustainable agriculture techniques and becoming independent decision-makers |
| Manish Mishra | Environment, Sciences and Technology Reporting – Print (2020) | Amar Ujala | Climate change and its impact on farmers across the country; the loss and the suicides |
| Faye D’Souza & Arun Rengaswamy | Environment, Sciences and Technology Reporting – Broadcast (2020) | Freemedia Interactive | Frontline workers dealing with the Covid-19 outbreak in Dharavi; the challenges, the fears and the motivation |
| Shiv Sahay Singh | Uncovering India Invisible – Print (2019) | The Hindu | Digital exclusions in Jharkhand due to the state linking the public distribution system with Aadhaar cards |
| Tridip K Mandal | Uncovering India Invisible – Broadcast (2019) | TheQuint.com | 19 lakh “foreigners”, including his own family, as per the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam |
| Team | Uncovering India Invisible – Print (2020) | Thomson Reuters | Migrant exodus, unemployment in villages and healthcare infrastructure buckling under the strain of record COVID-19 cases; the fear, the fortitude and the aftermath |
| Sanjay Nandan | Uncovering India Invisible – Broadcast (2020) | ABP News | What goes into the making of a Naxal in India; the perspective, the lens and the voices |
| Sumant Banerji | Business and Economics – Print (2019) | Business Today | The unorganised sector responsible for the thousands of critical parts needed by India’s vibrant automobile industry |
| Ayushi Jindal | Business and Economics – Broadcast (2019) | India Today TV | Complicated economics of single-use plastic in the country; the issue, the pollution, and the humans |
| Omkar Khandekar | Business and Economics – Print (2020) | HT Mint | How WhatsApp forwards nearly destroyed the Indian poultry industry during the pandemic; the rumours, the crisis and the fake news |
| Dheeraj Mishra | Politics and Govt. – Print (2019) | The Wire | Crores spent illegally on hotels, food and travel during parliamentary committee study tours; the violation, the misuse and the scrutiny |
| Seemi Pasha | Politics and Govt. – Broadcast (2019) | TheWire.in | Worries and fears of Jamia Nagar residents after the police crackdown at Jamia Millia Islamia; the stereotyping, the discrimination, and the suspicion |
| Bipasha Mukherjea | Politics and Govt. – Broadcast (2020) | India Today TV | Whether the Popular Front of India was a punching bag or simply a tool to deviate public attention from real issues |
| Nihal Koshie | Sports – Print (2019) | The Indian Express | Groundbreaking interview with sprinter Dutee Chand in which she acknowledged publicly for the first time that she was in a same-sex relationship |
| Team NewsX | Sports – Broadcast (2019) | NewsX | Volleyball Federation of India’s corrupt practices irrevocably risking the future of the country’s third most popular sport and sportspersons |
| Mihir Vasavda | Sports – Print (2020) | The Indian Express | Sexual harassment complaints made by athletes against their coaches; the data, the leniency and the investigations |
| Ajay Singh | Sports – Broadcast (2020) | NDTV India | Contractual coaches in UP making samosas, selling pakodas and working as labourers to make ends meet |
| Kaunain Sheriff M | Investigative Reporting – Print (2019) | The Indian Express | Exposé on the miscarriage of justice in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal riots, where men accused of murder, gang rape and rioting walked free |
| S Mahesh Kumar | Investigative Reporting – Broadcast (2019) | Manorama News | Gold smuggling from Nepal into India, which led to the discovery of gold being smuggled through Trivandrum airport in a diplomatic pouch |
| Tanushree Pandey | Investigative Reporting – Print (2020) | India Today | Ccoverage of the forcible cremation of the Hathras gang-rape victim; the threats, the witch-hunt and the quest for justice |
| Milan Sharma | Investigative Reporting – Broadcast (2020) | India Today TV | Mismatch in the Covid-19 toll released by the Centre and the figures provided by states; the reality, the underreporting and the impact |
| Tora Agarwala | Reporting on Arts, Culture & Entertainment – Print (2020) | The Indian Express | ‘Diggers’ scouring the hills of Manipur to look for remains of soldiers who died in World War II; the request, the poignancy and the closure |
| Chaitanya Marpakwar | Civic Journalism – Print (2019) | Mumbai Mirror | Coverage of the ‘Save Aarey’ campaign against the hacking of 3,000 trees in Mumbai to construct a car shed for the metro project |
| Shaikh Atikh Rashid | Civic Journalism – Print (2020) | The Indian Express | Reality of the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) scheme in Marathwada and Pune city |
| Zishaan A Latif | Photo Journalism – Print (2019) | The Caravan | Documenting the people’s struggle for inclusion in Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) list |
| Tarun Rawat | Photo Journalism – Print (2020) | The Times of India | Photograph of the juvenile who shot at Jamia students protesting peacefully against CAA on January 30, 2020 |
| Arun Mohan Sukumar | Books (Non-Fiction) – Print (2019) | Penguin Random House | Midnight’s Machines |
| Tripurdaman Singh | Books – Print (2020) | Penguin Random House India | Sixteen Stormy Days |
| Joanna Slater | Foreign Correspondent Covering India – Print (2020) | The Washington Post | Indelible portrait about what life was like when India’s over 1.3 billion citizens went into strict lockdown; the stories of exodus, hardship and solidarity |
Source: The Indian Express