KARACHI: Centre for Excellence in Journalism at Institute of Business Administration (CEJ-IBA) in collaboration with International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) conferred awards upon eight journalists for their outstanding contributions to field of humanitarian reporting at 'Humanitarian Reporting Awards 2023', held here.

Awards held for seventh year running were organised to highlight and promote ethical, accurate and responsible reporting on humanitarian issues including, but not limited to violence against healthcare workers, disaster reporting, issues related to persons with disabilities, disaster response/preparedness, population movement (refugees/IDPs), climate change impact, etc.

Zarrar Khurro shared purpose of journalism to raise voice of those who are affected by humanitarian issues. Nicolas Lambert head of ICRC's delegation in Pakistan emphasised importance of "Access to timely and accurate information in humanitarian crisis" as it can "Help save lives".

Savio Pereira CEO of Dar-ul-Sakoon emphasised need to "Accept, respect and include persons with disabilities" in society.

Taimoor Ahmed Assistant Programme Manager CEJ, expressed great pleasure in collaboration between ICRC and CEJ for its annual humanitarian reporting awards for sixth year in row, contributing towards improved standards in humanitarian reporting.

"Hundreds of journalists submitted their work for four categories and most of winners are female journalists."

This year, awards were conferred in four categories: Mainstream Broadcast (Urdu and regional languages), Mainstream Print (Urdu and regional languages), Mainstream Print (English) and Online (English, Urdu and regional languages) for news stories written or produced in between October 17, 2022, to September 25, 2023.

Sidra Dar from Voice of America secured top honour in Mainstream Broadcast (Urdu and regional languages), with Saher Baloch from BBC Urdu as runner-up. Iqra Ashiq, Assistant Multimedia Producer at Dawn, emerged victorious in Mainstream Print (Urdu and regional languages), with Saadia Ubaid Khan from Jang Group as runner-up. Hira Saeed Farooqui, Product Development Associate/Freelancer at GEO News claimed winner's spot in Mainstream Print (English) while Ayaz Khan, an Editorial Assistant at Dawn Newspaper was recognised as deserving runner-up. In Online (English, Urdu and regional languages) category, Shabina Faraz, freelancer journalist claimed top honour and Somaiyah Hafeez, another freelance journalist secured runner-up position.

These individuals showcased exceptional journalistic skills and contributed significantly to ethical and responsible reporting. Winners and runners-up were selected by panel of senior journalists from total of 309 entries from across country. Jury members included Ghazi Salahuddin, Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud, Afia Salam and Shahzeb Ahmed Hashim.

CEJ and ICRC also honoured work of three citizen journalists who highlighted plight of underserved through video stories. Their entries were selected from total of 60 submissions received from across country, by renowned journalists Haroon Rashid and Sana Gulzar.

Naeem Ahmed was honoured with Citizen Storyteller Award with Afreen Zehra and Uzair Surhio recognised as runner-up recipients.

Published in The Daily National Courier, November, 18 2023

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