NEW DELHI: NDTV Labs Ltd was awarded the prestigious Commonwealth Broadcasting Association or the CBA award for 'Innovative Engineering' and NDTV's Features Editor Sutapa Deb was honoured with the prestigious 'CBA-Thomson Foundation Journalist of the Year' at the CBA's Broadcasting Awards for 2008 presented in Nassau, Bahamas.

NDTV Labs set an unprecedented record for media houses by winning this award for the fifth time in six years. NDTV Labs also took the opportunity to launch the nX series of software products at the Conference at the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association's Broadcasting Awards for 2008.

Sutapa Deb who won the CBA - Thomson Foundation Journalist of the Year award is the driving force behind India's pioneering television series, India Matters. This rare series engages viewers with development issues at a time when most TV channels are catering to politics, cricket and films.

About her work, Sutapa says: "There are thousands of stories waiting to be told. Often I wish there was a little less cynicism and a lot more idealism. Stories come and go before people can understand the context and because of this we have failed to deepen our understanding about a
number of vital issues that face our society. Each story is important, and must be well told".

Some of Sutapa's path breaking reports include Banker to the Poor and India's Coming Out. The most recent series is on positive children who are neglected by the system. Her report looks at the lack of institutions for HIV orphans.

Apart from the CBA-Thomson Foundation journalist award, Sutapa is the recipient of the Indian Telly Award for the best documentary of the year for her documentary Unsung Heroes of the Gujarat Earthquake, 2002 and the Ramnath Goenka award for excellence in journalism in 2006.