Barkha Dutt bags Ramnath Goenka Award

New Delhi, Apr 12 (UNI) NDTV's Barkha Dutt today bagged the 'Journalist of the Year, Broadcast' prize while Varghese K George (Indian Express) and Praveen Swami (Frontline) shared the 'Journalist of the Year, Print' honour at the first Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards, touted as the Indian equivalent of the American Pulitzer Prize.

NDTV and freelance journalists won as many as eight of the 15 awards, which were given away by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who said the the national media have an important role to play in consensus building as the country is firmly set on course for a long innings of coalition politics.

Ms Dutt received the top Rs 250,000-'Journalist of the Year' prize for her reports from the tsunami-hit Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu while the jury that included Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy and film-maker Shyam Benegal praised Mr Goerge for exposing the flood relief scam in Bihar and Mr Swami for his extensive and in-depth reports on terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

The award for Environmental Reporting, Print went to freelance journalist Ramesh Menon for his detailed report on the over-use of pesticides in turning Punjab into a poison field. Two more freelancers - C Vanaja and Ratna Bharali Talukdar - were among the winners.

Ms Vanaja, who received the 'Uncovering India Invisible, Print' award was cited for her painstaking journey into the deep forests of the Dhandakaranya in Andhra Pradesh to report on the parallel government run by the naxalites while Ms Talukdar received the award for 'Regional Award North East, Print' for her in-depth reports chronicling the lives and struggles of coal mine workers in Upper Assam.

Sopan Pandharipande (Lokmat) received the 'Regional Award, Regional, Print' for his series of investigative stories that exposed the Mahila Nagari Sahakari Bank scam in Nagpur.

NDTV journalists won the awards in the broadcast categories of 'Regional Award Jammu and Kashmir' (Vikram Choudhary), 'Regional Award North East' (Sutapa Deb), 'Environmental Reporting' (Swati Thyagarajan) and 'Uncovering India Invisible' (Shikha Trivedy).

Mr Choudhary was cited for his report on how women have been forced to take up the gun to protect themselves in the militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir while Ms Deb won for her report on the unrest in Manipur and the story of its victims. Ms Thyagarajan received the award for her report on a Karnataka village that is trying to keep alive a tradition.

Aaj Tak picked up the 'Regional Award Hindi Broadcast' award, which went to its reporter Punya Prasun Bajpai for his investigative report on the tribals in Vidarbha who were falsely booked under TADA for alleged naxalite links.

'Business and Economic Journalism, Print' prize went to Vikas Dhoot of 'Business World' for a series of stories on how the Employees Provident Fund Organisation reforms were scuttled.

CNBC TV 18's Menaka Doshi won the 'Business and Economic Journalism, Broadcast' award for reporting the rift in the Ambani family.

The 'Foreign Correspondent Covering India, Print' award was bagged by Somini Sengupta (The New York Times).

Instituted by the Ramnath Goenka Memorial Foundation, the awards carry a cash prize ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 250,000, a trophy and a citation each.

A host of politicians and editors including Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, Steel and Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Ramvilas Paswan and former 'Indian Express' editor Arun Shourie attended the awards ceremony.

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