Zubair KARACHI
The Centre for Excellence in Journalism at the Institute of Business Administration (CEJ-IBA), in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), conferred awards upon eight journalists for their outstanding contributions to the field of humanitarian reporting at the ‘Humanitarian Reporting Awards 2023.’
The awards — held for the seventh year running — were organized 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.
This year, the awards were conferred in four categories: Mainstream Broadcast (Urdu & Regional languages); Mainstream Print (Urdu and regional languages); Mainstream Print (English), and Online (English, Urdu & Regional languages) for news stories written or produced between October 17, 2022, to September 25, 2023.
The CEJ-IBA’s Humanitarian Reporting Awards 2023 recognized outstanding talent in four categories. Sidra Dar from Voice of America secured the top honor in Mainstream Broadcast (Urdu and regional languages), with SaherBaloch from BBC Urdu as the runner-up. IqraAshiq, Assistant Multimedia Producer at Dawn, emerged victorious in Mainstream Print (Urdu and regional languages), with SaadiaUbaid Khan from Jang Group as the runner-up. HiraSaeedFarooqui, a Product Development Associate/Freelancer at GEO News, claimed the winner’s spot in Mainstream Print (English), while Ayaz Khan, an Editorial Assistant at Dawn Newspaper, was recognized as the deserving runner-up. In the Online (English, Urdu & Regional languages) category, ShabinaFaraz, a Freelancer Journalist, claimed the top honor, and SomaiyahHafeez, another Freelance Journalist, secured the runner-up position. These individuals showcased exceptional journalistic skills and contributed significantly to ethical and responsible reporting.
Winners and runners-up were selected by a panel of senior journalists from a total of 309 entries from across the country. The jury members included Ghazi Salahuddin – Senior Journalist and staff member at The News International; IhsanullahTipuMehsud – Journalist and Analyst, Co-founder, and Director of News @khorasandiary; Afia Salam – Freelance Journalist; and Shahzeb Ahmed Hashim – Journalist, Editor at Dawn.com/Prism.
This year, the CEJ and ICRC also honored the work of three citizen journalists who highlighted the plight of the underserved through video stories. Their entries were selected from a total of 60 submissions received from across the country, by renowned journalists Haroon Rashid and Sana Gulzar. Naeem Ahmed was honored with the Citizen Storyteller Award, with AfreenZehra and UzairSurhio recognized as the runner-up recipients.
