MUMBAI: The second edition of the CNN Young Journalist Award (YJA) 2004 saw Zee News' Rahul Agarwal and Businessworld's Vikas Dhoot bagging the coveted award. On the other hand, Geo TV's Wajid Ali Syed from Pakistan and Tehelka's Aman Khanna were declared the CNN YJA runners up at the ceremony, which was held at NCPA in Mumbai yesterday (9 December).
The CNN YJA were introduced in 2003 by CNN to recognise and encourage quality journalism among young media professionals in India and Pakistan. The winners will get to spend one week at CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta and the runners up will get to 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 CNN International Asia Pacific managing editor Paul Cutler and CNN’s senior international correspondent and New Delhi bureau chief Satinder Bindra.
Zee News' Agarwal's 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. On the other hand, Businessworld's Dhoot's story "Dirty Providence" is a story on how the lives of 108 million Indian citizens are affected by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation.
Speaking at the ceremony, Cutler 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 of journalism – fairness, balance and objectivity."
CNN YJA is open to all young news journalists between the ages of 22 – 26 years working in print or television in India and Pakistan. Contestants in the television category were required to submit a three 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 NDTV's Sidharth Pandey in the television category and Business Today's Kushan Mitra in the print/online category.
