The AGAHI Awards
2012, Pakistani Journalists Shaping the Future of Journalism
Winners of the first journalism awards in Pakistan, the "AGAHI Awards 2012" showcased counter-narratives discouraging radical mindset in Pakistan.
Agahi Awards are Pakistan’s First Journalism Awards, aimed at recognizing the country's
best journalists. These awards were organised by Mishal
Pakistan in collaboration with the leading press clubs across the
country, local and international media development bodies, regulatory
authorities, the private sector and other stakeholders.
Puruesh Chaudhary,
President for AGAHI and Ambassador on Media Ethics with Center for International Media Ethics (CIME) said
the initiative was launched as essentially an effort to raise the standards of
journalism in the country, creating a new crop of correspondents and editors
who can develop counter-narratives to offset extremist ideologies and work
towards greater peace and harmony in Pakistan.
Amir
Jahangir, CEO Mishal and Young
Global Leader with World Economic Forum,
emphasized on creating Media Development Fund in Pakistan promoting investigative journalism and quality content.
The presidents of eight of the leading
press clubs in Pakistan on a platform in encouraging raising journalistic
standards in the country comes as an unprecedented move.
The winners of
the AGAHI Awards 2012 showcased counter-narratives discouraging radical
mindset in Pakistan.
The judges panel
comprising of some of the most senior media professionals from around the world
assessed the entries submitted by journalists from all over the country in over
15 different categories including business, economy, conflict, corruption,
crime, education, infotainment, the nexus between water, energy and food
security, gender and governance.
In addition issues like human rights,
interfaith, judiciary, media ethics, terrorism and extremism have also been
included to create more awareness for social issues affecting society. A special People’s Choice category was created for the
most favorite current affairs anchor and news channel.
In the People’s choice category the award
for the most Favourite Current Affairs Anchor and News Channel went to Hamid Mir of Capital Talk and GEO News of the Jang Group.
Haroon Baloch of Rohi TV bagged three
awards in the categories; conflict,
crime
and environment.
Haroon Baloch has been commended by the judges as one of the most effective
content producer on the blogging sphere in the context of the evaluation
criteria over which he was assessed; along with his ability to converge
traditional media content over new media.
Mohammad Ali Khan on Business
and Economy, Idrees Bakhtiar and Mohammad Ali Khan on an exclusive piece on
Corruption
in Herald, Saadia Khalid on Education, Mubarak Zaib Khan on Energy,
Water and Food Security nexus, Fazal Khaliq on Gender,
Mashkoor Ali on Governance
Ibrahim Suheyl on Health,
Ali Usman on Human
Rights, Usman Ghafoor on Infotainment,
Naveed Nasim on Interfaith
for his documentary on Gojra
Riots, Asad Kharal on Media Ethics,
Zaheer Chaudhry
and from Balochistan Matiullah
Achakzai in Photo-Journalism, Waheedullah Afridi on Terrorism and
Extremism.
Arif Rana from Express Group, won the award for the best
Investigative Journalist 2012; for his extensive work on issues related to
corruption and governance.
Arshad Sharif
from Dunya TV; was recognized for his
contribution on Pakistan’s war against terrorism and his counter-narratives on
undermining radical ideologies.
Mishal launched a series of media development initiatives and
helped journalists interact with each other through knowledge-sharing
platforms. It also encouraged them to introduce new perspectives and produce
diverse and pluralistic content to reduce intolerance in the society.
Members of the AGAHI team have worked with likeminded institutions
to enhance the impact of these capacity building initiatives. It has
established linkages and collaborations with leading knowledge centers from
across the world. They have collaborated with different press clubs and media
associations in the country and have always encouraged journalists to launch
similar initiatives on their own.
For more information on AGAHI
Awards Winners, the evaluation
committee, and the judging criteria please
visit: www.agahiawards.com
