REDINK AWARDS JUDGING PROCESS ENDS WITH THE SELECTION OF 32 AWARD WINNERS

The judging process for the RedInk Awards for Excellence in Journalism-2017, an arduous process spanning 6 weeks, was finally completed on Monday May 22 with the selection of 32 award winners – 28 in the competitive category and 4 awardees in the special categories. The announcement of the prize winners in the competitive round, and honouring the RedInk winners with the prize money and trophies, will be conducted on Wednesday, 7 June, 2017 at the Jamshed Bhaba Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point.

The Mumbai Press Club, which has instituted the RedInk Awards, received a record 1,300 story entries from journalists all over the country in video, digital and print formats. These were read and classified over 4 weeks by curators selected for each of the 10 category of awards.

Significantly, the issue of drought, that scorched large swathes of the country last year, dominated the short-listed stories in many categories like Human Rights, Environment, Business and Politics. Stories on the severe drought in the Bundelkhand region, both in print and video, scored awards in many categories, while reporting on the drought conditions in Maharashtra too attracted special attention.  

After sorting and short-listing, a three-member jury for each category, along with the curator, assessed and debated the stories before deciding on the winners. Each of the curators and the juries were made up of distinguished persons with domain knowledge of the subject at hand. For instance the ‘Human Rights’ category included Justice Abhay Thipsay (retd) of the Bombay High Court, and South Asia Director of the Human Rights Watch Meenakshi Ganguly; the ‘politics’ category was judged by among other retired Judge of the Supreme Court, Hemant Gokhale; ‘Environment’ by distinguished environmental journalist Darryl D’Monte and IndusInd Bank COO Paul Abraham and curated by Sanctuary editor Bittu Sehgal; crime category by Praveen Dixit former DGP of Maharashtra and the Business category by Keki Mistry, CEO of HDFC and Deloitte CEO N Venkatram.

The complete list of jury and curators for the judging process is attached herewith.

Increasing the number of award categories, the Press Club this year created a category of ‘Mumbai star Reporter’ Award, which will also be handed over on 7^th June.

As a special gesture of appreciation, the Mumbai Press Club will felicitate the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, on 7^th June for recently steering and ensuring the passage of the much-needed Journalist Protection Act.

Also adding to the glitter of the awards night will be a performance by the Bombay Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.

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