CNN announces Young Journalist Award
KARACHI – After months of intense competition, two winners and two runners-up have been chosen in the Television and Print/Online categories respectively for the CNN Young Journalist Award 2004 (CNN YJA). The Award was introduced in Pakistan for the first time this year to recognise and encourage quality journalism among young media professionals. In the Television category, the winner for CNN YJA 2004 was Rahul Agarwal from Zee News, India and in the Print/Online category, it was Vikas Dhoot from Business World, India. The two winners win a week’s trip to Atlanta, CNN’s global headquarters. Wajid Ali Syed from Geo TV, Pakistan and Aman Khanna from Tehelka – The People’s Paper were the Runners up in the Television and Print/Online categories respectively. They will spend one week working closely with CNN’s Islamabad and New Delhi bureaux respectively. The awards were presented to the winners and runners up by Paul Cutler, Managing Editor, CNN International Asia Pacific and Satinder Bindra, CNN’s Senior International Correspondent and New Delhi Bureau Chief respectively.
Rahul Agarwal’s (Zee News) story, “Dead Man Walking” highlights the plight of over 10,000 Indians who have been legally declared dead by greedy relatives for their selfish motives. Vikas Dhoot’s (Business World) story “Dirty Providence” is a story on how the lives of 108 million Indian citizens arc affected by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation.
Wajid Ali Syed’s (Geo TV) story, “Unfair Price” is the tragic tale of thousands of Pakistani women like Basheran, whose husbands sell their daughters without hesitation for gambling and buying drugs. Wajid’s story traces the plight of these suffering Pakistani women. Aman Khanna’s (Tehelka-The People’s Paper) story, “Assault Rifles Hit Home” warns about the danger of India’s Rs 20,000 crore police modernisation programme falling into the hands of gunrunners and drug peddlers.
Paul Cutler, Managing Editor, CNN International Asia Pacific, said, “It is indeed a privilege to be here among all these talented journalists, and I am pleased to have been given the honour of presenting the Awards to the young winners. I congratulate them and all those who participated in CNN Young Journalist Award 2004 and I hope they will continue to pursue the fundamentals journalism – fairness, balance and objectivity.”
CNN YJA 2004 was open to all young news journalists, between the ages of 22-26 years working in print or television in Pakistan and India. Contestants in the Television category were required to submit a 3:00 minute news/feature style TV package aired between 1 January and 30 September 2004. Contestants for the Print/Online category were asked to submit their best by-lined stories, published between 1 January and 30 September 2004.
Last year’s winners of CNN YJA included Sidharth Pandey, NDTV, India in the television category and Kushan Mitra, Business Today, India in thc print/online category.
Winners of CNN YJA will undergo an intense schedule at CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta, designed to add value to their existing journalistic experience. Their seven days will provide a thorough insight into the functioning of the world’s leading news network giving the winners a detailed overview of how the network operates. They will meet with CNN International’s editors and anchors, and experience first-hand the workings of CNN’s editorial and programming teams.
CNN International is the world’s leader in 24-hour global news and information. The CNN News Group is comprised of more than 30 services and is available to nearly a billion people around the world. Worldwide, CNN International can he seen in more than 175 million television households in 200 countries and territories – CNN.com’s news websites include international and US editions of CNN.com us well as five local language sirs in Arabic, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. Thee web sites also support mobile services, including a PDA service on Avant Go and a breaking news SMS news alert service.
Source: The Nation
Date:12/23/2004
” 
” 
” 
” 
