RedInk awards: Here’s who won and why

Media professionals have been awarded under 12 major categories at the annual RedInk Awards for Excellence in Journalism, held by the Mumbai Press Club on Wednesday. With 2021 coming to an end, Newslaundry takes a look at the winners and their work.

Photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who was killed in Afghanistan while he was reporting earlier this year, was posthumously honoured as the ‘journalist of the year’. The award was received by his wife Frederike Siddiqui.

In the business and economy print category, Varsha Torgalkar won for her report for Stories Asia titled, ‘The Child Labour Behind the Jeans You Wear’. In the television section,

ABP News journalist Mrityunjay Singh won for his ground report on how grape farmers from Nashik were suffering during the Covid-induced lockdown.

BBC Marathi journalist Shrikant Fakirba Bangale won under the women empowerment and gender equality television category for his report on farmer Jyoti Deshmukh, who cultivated 29 acres of land after her husband, brother-in-law and father-in-law committed suicide.

Asmita Bakshi won in the print section of the women empowerment and gender equality category for her report for the Mint Lounge. Published on October 31, 2020, her report focussed on how women farmers were fighting to be seen and heard as the farmer protests were gaining momentum across the country.

In the crime category, Sagar won in the print section for his story on CBI’s claim of no murders in the Muzaffarpur shelter-home case for The Caravan magazine.

Writer Ishan Kukreti, journalist Kundan Pandey, Soundaram Ramanathan and Sugandha Arora of Centre for Science and Environment, won under the print section of the environment category. Their report on coal mining was the cover story for Down To Earth in August last year. Journalist Sofia Bind won under the television section for her video report on Kerala floods for Media One TV.

In the health and wellness category, freelance journalist Priyanka Pulla won in the print section for her report on the undercounting of Covid deaths in India. The report was published by The Wire in August 2020. Under the television section, journalists Faye D’Souza and Arun Rengaswamy of Freemedia Interactive won for their report on Covid frontline workers inside Mumbai’s KEM hospital.

HuffPost reporter Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava and The Federal journalist Prabhakar Tamilarasu were joint winners under the human rights print category. Shrivastava’s three-part report delves into surveillance of Indian citizens while Tamilrasu’s exclusive report exposed the police torture behind the Tuticorin custodial deaths.

In the television category, creative director of the Quint, Tridip Kanti Mandal, and independent journalist Syed Shahriyar, won for their report tracing life a year after the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir.

Under the lifestyle and entertainment category, Forbes India journalist Kathakali Chanda, and journalist Makepeace Sitlhou, who wrote for CNN, won jointly under the print section. Chanda had written on how a circus turned to digital streaming to survive during the pandemic. Sitlhou wrote a report on the game of teer which is the only legal form of gambling in Meghalaya.

Indian Express journalist Abhishek Angad won unders the politics category for print. Angad reported on minority students from Jharkhand being deprived of scholarships because of a bank staff nexus. For the television section, NDTV journalist Saurabh Shukla won for his report on how people were struggling for food during the lockdown despite the Delhi government’s claims about arrangements.

In the science and innovation print category, independent journalist Bhavya Dore won for her report for Fifty Two which looked at the Charkhi Dadri aviation disaster and how it changed the way we fly. News18 Lokmat’s Ganesh Raghunath Kale and India Science Channel’s Pallava Bagla were joint winners under the television section.

Journalist Mihir Vasavda from the Indian Express won under the sports category for the print section for his report on sexual harassement cases against coaches at the Sports Authority of India.

The Wire’s Mahtab Alam and Majid Maqbool from Mint Lounge won under the arts category. Alam was honoured for his piece on actor Tom Alter while Maqbool won for his report on Masood Hussain’s paintings on Kashmir and its history.

Under the big picture category, which is meant to honour impactful photographs, Apoorva Diwakar Salkade from Outlook was awarded for his photograph in a gallery published by the magazine in May 2020. Multimedia journalist Manisha Mondal from the Print was the runner-up for her report on the Hathras gang rape case.