By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Nov 23:
The 10th “Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity (Regional) 2018-2019” were announced by “Population First”, an NGO, in an event held in Mumbai, on Saturday.
Seventy-five media persons received the awards and 18 media persons received the jury appreciation citations for their work that looked at the happenings around them through a gender lens. The winners represented different languages- Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, and English. The winners were selected from the North, East, West, and South regions of India. The categories included news stories, features, investigative stories, articles, editorials, op-ed, columns, electronic, blog, and social media campaigns.
On the occasion Chief guest Ms. 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 preferring a boy, compared to a girl. All laws to help women are in place, we need the media’s help for a better implementation of these laws. That will only happen when the mindsets change and media can help with this change through its reporting and campaigns”.
Ms. 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”.
According to Dr. A. L. Sharada, Director, Population First, “The Laadli Media Awards prove 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 a mirror to our politicians and all of us. They are role models for many aspiring journalists and media persons. We honor them with pride.”
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”( “entwined twins”, the duet can be either vocal or instrumental).
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.
Awardees
Few personalities selected for the awards included: Jyoti Shelar (The Hindu) and Neha Sharma (The Times of India)-news report category, Sukanta Sarkar(“Ei Samay”)-Op-ed category, Rini Barman(scroll. in)- Chitralekha Baruah(The Assam Tribune), Ravishankar Upadhyay (Prabhat Khabar), Saurabh Duggal(Hindustan Times)-features category, Divya Goyal (The Indian Express)- investigative story category and Vasanthi Hariprakash( “Youtube– pickle jar”- for the topical category).
About the “Laadli” campaign
The “Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity” instituted in March 2007 acknowledge, highlight and celebrate the commendable efforts of print and electronic media (TV, Radio, and Web) and advertising agencies, to promote gender sensitivity as an integral part of their work. It started as a Mumbai centric event and was subsequently taken to the national level with the support of UNFPA.” Laadli” means a dear girl.
Population First
Population First (PF) is a social impact organization that works on health and population issues from a gender and social development perspective was registered in Mumbai in March 2002. Its key objectives are to help reduce gender imbalances in the population and work towards gender-sensitive and social development-oriented health and population programs. It works in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), India, towards improving the health the well-being of the Indian population.