Journalists awarded for reporting on humanitarian issues

Humanitarian issues include violence against healthcare workers, disaster reporting

KARACHI: Seven journalists received awards for reporting on humanitarian issues at the third Humanitarian Reporting Awards on Thursday. The awards were jointly organised by the Center for Excellence in Journalism at the Institute of Business Administration (CEJ-IBA), Karachi and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The awards were organised to promote ethical, accurate and responsible reporting on humanitarian issues including violence against healthcare workers, disaster reporting, issues related to people with disabilities, disaster response and preparedness, and other similar issues.

The awards were distributed in four categories, mainstream broadcast (Urdu), mainstream print (Urdu), mainstream print (English) and Online (English and Urdu) for stories published between September 17, 2018 and August 20th, 2019.

In the category of Mainstream Broadcast (Urdu), Bushra Qamar of 92 News HD won the award, while Sidra Azhar Dar of Voice of America was the runner-up.  In the Mainstream Print (Urdu) category, Muhammad Atif Sheikh, a freelance journalist emerged as the winner.

Former Express Tribune staffer wins CEJ Humanitarian Reporting Award 2019

In the Mainstream Print (English), a freelancer, Manesh Kumar, won the award and another freelancer, Sabrina Toppa was the runner-up.

In the Online (English and Urdu) category, Kaukab Shairani of The Express Tribune clinched the award, whereas freelance journalist, Mahwish Qayyum was the runner-up.

Winners and runner-ups were selected by a panel of jury comprising senior journalists, including Raza Hamdani, the Independent in Pakistan’s consultant editor, University of Karachi Mass Communication Department’s former chairperson Dr Seemi Naghmana, The Current’s co-founder Mehmal Sarfraz and CEJ Director Kamal Siddiqui.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2019.