Mumbai: Population First has announced the winners of the 10th Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity (Regional) 2018-2019. The award event was held online considering the Covid-19 pandemic.
Seventy-five media persons have received the awards and 18 media persons have received the jury appreciation citations for their work that looked at the happenings around them through a gender lens. The languages these winners represent are Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, and English. The winners were selected from four regions, North, East, West, and South. The categories were news story, feature, investigative story, article, editorial, op-ed, column, podcast, electronic, blog, and social media campaign.
Chief guest Rekha Sharma, Chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW), hoped the media would create an environment that will encourage women. “Media can help change the traditional mindset ‘Ladkiparayeehaiaurladkaapnahai’. All laws to help women are in place, we need the media’s help for a better implementation of the laws. That will only happen when the mindsets change and media can help change mindsets through its reporting and campaigns.”
According to Dr. A. L. Sharada, Director, Population First, “The Laadli prove Media Awards that even in the worst situations and cynical times there is hope. There is hope because there are many who are being true to their profession in journalism, showing great sensitivity and compassion, raising critical questions about gender inequalities, discrimination, and violence, and showing mirror to our politicians and all of us. They are role models for many aspiring journalists and media persons. We honor them with pride.”
Argentina Matavel Piccin, the representative for UNFPA in India and Country director Bhutan, said, “UNFPA India is proud to work with Population First to challenge stereotypes that perpetuate gender discrimination. We recognize the important role of the media in altering public perceptions around valuing women and girls and being champions of change. We are therefore delighted to support the 10th edition of the Laadli Awards for gender sensitivity.”
Multi percussionist and music composer Pandita Anuradha Pal, who breached the gender barrier and entered the male-dominated field of Tabla playing, enthralled the audience with a unique ‘Jugalbandi with herself!’
The jury, which included members of the media, academia, and social activists, selected 93 winners from 1,100 plus entries received from across the country.
Few personalities awarded for the 10th Edition of Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity are, Jyoti Shelar from The Hindu for News Report Category, Sukanta Sarkar from Ei Samay for Op-ed category, Rini Barman from the scroll. in for Features category, Chitralekha Baruah from The Assam Tribune, Ravishankar Upadhyay from Prabhat Khabar for features category, Saurabh Duggal form Hindustan Times for Features category, Divya Goyal from The Indian Express for Investigative story category, Neha Sharma from The Times of India for News report category, Vasanthi Hariprakash from Youtube – pickle jar for Topical category, and others are awarded for various categories.
