2^ndAGAHI Awards Maps out Quality Journalism in Pakistan.

Journalists compete in more than 50 different categories; AGAHI Awards encourages best content in print, television, radio and online journalism.

Pakistan’s most prestigious journalism “Agahi Awards 2013” celebrated today at PNCA Islamabad. The Awards have been organized in collaboration with leading press clubs, local and international media development institutions, regulatory authorities, civil society organizations, private sector and other stakeholders. Puruesh Chaudhary Founder & President, AGAHI and Amir Jahangir Chief Executive Officer, Mishal Pakistan founded these awards in 2012.

The Agahi Awards are an annual series of awards for journalism in Pakistan, developed under the umbrella of the Credibility Lab at Mishal for creating an appreciation methodology for ethical and quality content. The evaluation methodology and criteria of the awards have been designed on the pillars of Media Development Indicators of UNESCO, in collaboratiosn with the Center for International Media Ethics (CIME) and UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The Awards were inaugurated in March 2012 and have become the most prestigious awards for the journalism in Pakistan.
The Awards have created appreciation for journalism in fifty different categories including business and economy, conflict, corruption, crime, education, infotainment, the nexus between water, energy and food security, gender and governance, health, extremism and terrorism, peace, interfaith, dignity; thus creating media diversity across print, television, radio and the online media.

Academic partners for Agahi Awards 2013 from the disciplines of journalism and mass communication included; Fatima Jinnah Women University (Rawalpindi), Allama Iqbal Open University (Islamabad), Bahauddin Zakariya University (Multan), International Islamic University (Islamabad), Islamia University (Bahawalpur), University of Gujrat, National University of Science and Technology (Islamabad), Roskilde University (Denmark), Center for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom at European University (Italy).

The awards ceremony was presented by Osama Bin Javaid, a Pakistani journalist based in the Middle East and Razeshta Sethna, par of the editorial team at a leading English language publication in Pakistan. The Awards also have special categories including “Current Affairs Anchor of the Year” and “News Channel of the Year” in Pakistan. These categories are on the basis of people’s choice, which includes voting for these two categories by reaching out to more than 6 million Pakistanis through social media engagement and 1.5 million via SMS campaign and direct feedback.

GEO NEWS won the Peoples' Choice Award for the "Most Favourite News Channel" second year around.

The “Current Affairs Anchor of the Year” Award was for two emerging anchors; won by Iqrar ul Hassan (ARY News) and Alia Nazki (BBC Urdu), as “the Emerging Current Affair Anchor of the Year” in the male and female categories. “Investigative Journalist of the Year” award was won by Asad Kharal (Express Tribune).

Ejaz Haider from Capital TV was awarded the “Most Credible Anchor” based on the Media Credibility Index developed in collaboration with more than 10 journalism schools in Pakistan.

To ensure diversity in content and more social issues to be highlighted in media, Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with Save the Children created the health category further dividing them into six sub-categories. This has not only increased the quantum of health content in media, but has also encouraged journalists to write more on the socio-economic challenges in Pakistan.

This year AGAHI Awards received an overwhelming response by the journalist community, where more than 1500 nominations were received from all over the country across more than 50 different categories in print, television, radio and online content.

Press Clubs in Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi, Multan, and the National Press Club along with the Kashmir Press Club (Mirpur) and the Tribal Union of Journalists, Center for International Media Ethics, Ethical Journalism Network, Media Helping Media, Save the Children, Devex, International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Press Council of Pakistan, Internews Network, Center for Investigative Journalism (Bosina-Sarajevo), Transnational Crisis Project, Hayward Black Media, MediaShift, P@sha have partnered to ensure making the journalism awards at par with international standard of journalism.

Mishal Pakistan is the country partner Institute of the Center for Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Networks at the World Economic Forum. Established in 2003, Mishal has been engaged with key stakeholders in Pakistan to improve the state of media through good governance initiatives.