Talent recognition: Journalism awards next week

‘Agahi Awards’ aim to encourage ethical values, quality content of media.

ISLAMABAD:

The country’s only acknowledgement of journalists, “Agahi Awards 2013”, will take place on September 21 in the capital at a ceremony organised by Mishal Pakistan, a communication consultancy firm.

The awards will be celebrated in collaboration with leading press clubs across the country, local and international media development bodies, regulatory authorities and other stakeholders, according to a press release.

The Agahi Awards are an annual series of awards for journalism in Pakistan, developed under the umbrella of the “Credibility Lab” at Mishal for creating an appreciation methodology for ethical and quality content.

The evaluation methodology and criteria of the awards has been designed on the pillars of Unesco’s Media Development Indicators in collaboration with the Centre for International Media Ethics (CIME) and Unesco headquarters in Paris. The awards were inaugurated in March 2012 and have become the most prestigious awards for journalism in Pakistan.

The awards include more than twenty different categories including business and economy, conflict, corruption, crime, education, infotainment, the nexus between water, energy and food security, gender and governance, health, extremism and terrorism, peace, interfaith and dignity. The awards have thus created media diversity across print, television, radio and the online media.

This year, more than 1,500 nominations have been received from all over the country in 20 different categories.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2013.