By A Correspondent

The much-awaited RedInk Awards for Excellence in Indian Journalism 2017 of the Mumbai Presss Club were presented on Wednesday evening in Mumbai with veteran journalist Vinod Dua being conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award and Raj Kamal Jha the Journalist of the Year Award.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was the chief guest for the RedInk Awards, said that he does not buy the argument that there is a threat to the fourth estate. “Constructive journalism always has its own value and at the same time we are open to criticism,” he said, narrating his own experience since he took over as the Chief Minister.  “Tolerance is in the blood of Indians…India traditionally had been a tolerant society,” he said, adding “Our democracy is very strong and it has survived turbulence in the past. The democratic system evolves and corrects itself.”

The Mumbai Press Club felicitated the CM for his role in ensuring the passage of the state Journalist Protection Act.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed on Vinod Dua for his extensive and versatile contribution to journalism in different formats and subjects. Accepting the coveted award, Dua said: “It is not just an award… it is an honour to me.” He said that it has been noticed that journalists get too close with people in power and often behaving like that. “This is not something that is good,” he said, adding that journalists should also be content by what they are monetarily getting. Besides, one must do what journalists stand for.

The RedInk Award for the ‘Journalist of the Year’ 2017 given to Raj Kamal Jha, Chief Editor of the Indian Express, for providing exemplary stewardship over the last couple of years to the newspaper; and for providing focus and restoring what it has always been known best for – investigative journalism.

“This award belongs to the Indian Express, the entire team,” said Jha, adding: “For us what is important is a good story…and sometimes when we see a good piece from a youngster, we feel that we could not have written it that way.”

Govind Tupe of ‘Sakal’ newspaper was awarded the special RedInk award of ‘Mumbai’s Star Reporter’ – instituted for the first time this year – for helping empower civil society through hard work and dogged follow-ups. Donning the role of a journalist and an RTI activist, he forced the establishment to change its rules bringing all offices of cabinet ministers and ministers of state under the RTI umbrella of ‘public authorities’.

Apart from these, awards were also given in the 10 various categories. The organisers received more than 1,500 entries across categories.

The evening also a discussion on the issue ‘Turning the Searchlight Inwards: Why is the Credibility of News Media Today at its Nadir?’. Senior journalist Vir Sanghvi moderated the discussion that had former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan, Senior Journalists Bachi Karkaria, NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta among the panelists.

Star India was the Presenting Partner for Mumbai Press Club Redink Awards for Excellence in Journalism 2017 while the Aditya Birla Group, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Zee Entertainment, Eros International, Indiabulls Housing, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, National Stock Exchange, Nanavati Hospital and JSW Steel were award partners. The Hindu Group and Facebook are the media partners. MxMIndia was an online partner.

The event was emceed by Menaka Doshi, Managing Editor, BloombergQuint.

 

Winners of Redink Awards 2017

 

LIFETIME ACHIVEMENT – Vinod Dua

JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR – Raj Kamal Jha, Indian Express

MUMBAI STAR REPORTER – Govind Tupe, Sakal

SPECIAL IMPACT AWARD – Rahul Kulkarni, ABP Majha

 

POLITICS   

Print – RadhakrishnanRariyamKandath, Frontline

TV – Sreenivasan Jain, NDTV

 

SCIENCE & INNOVATION     

Print – Nithyanand Rao &ViratMarkandeya, The Wire

TV – AamirRafiqPeerzada, NDTV

 

HUMAN RIGHTS

Print – IpsitaChakravarty& Rayan Naqash, Scroll.in

TV – Joint Winners, Abhisar Sharma, ABP News & Maya Mirchandani, NDTV

 

BUSINESS  

Print – Sarika Malhotra, Business Today

TV – Archana Shukla, CNBC TV 18

 

BIG PICTURE       

Winner – Ashish Sharma, Open Magazine

Runner Up – Kunal Pradeep Patil, Hindustan Times

 

ENVIRONMENT 

Print

Joint Winner  TusharDhara, Sanjay Sawant, ShraddhaGhatge&NeeradhPandaripande, First Post

Raj Narain Mishra, DainikJagran

TV – Rajesh Kumar, India News

 

SPORTS       

Print – SwaroopSwaminathan, The New Indian Express

TV – Joint Winner, Moumita Sen, India Today TV & Rajeev Mishra, India News

 

HEALTH & WELLNESS           

Print – Priyanka Vora, Scroll.in

TV – Archana Shukla, CNBC TV 18

 

CRIME        

Print – Alia Allana, Fountain Ink

TV – Atir Khan, India Today TV

 

LIFESTYLE & ENTERTAINMENT  

Print – Kathakali Chanda, Forbes India

TV – Biju Pankaj, Mathrubhumi News