President Kovind will present RNG Awards on Jan 20

This time, the awards have 11 categories covering critical areas in print, digital and electronic media, including business and economics, political reportage, civic journalism, environment, science and technology, journalism in conflict areas, and regional-language reporting.

The winners were chosen by an eminent jury that included Tom Goldstein, Professor and Dean, Jindal School of Journalism & Communication, O P Jindal Global University; S Y Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner; Pamela Philipose, journalist and Senior Fellow at the Indian Council of Social Science Research; and, former Supreme Court judge, Justice B N Srikrishna.

“Like every year, judging the winners turned out to be a difficult job. The standard of entries is very high, and the documentation is really good. It was an interesting and educative experience,” said Quraishi.

Goldstein, who has previously served as dean of journalism schools at Columbia and Berkeley, said, “The best entries were on a par with the quality of those in the contests I have judged in the United States.”

Philipose said that “Express has been at the forefront of news reporting, and through these awards, what they are able to do is to actually further this process by highlighting the best”.

What was interesting about this year’s entries, said Philipose, was that “new themes and trends were explored in the stories — how do we look at our world in a more granular way”.

In 2006, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presided over the first edition of the awards. Last year, Union Minister Rajnath Singh was the chief guest, and handed over awards to 29 winners in 18 categories.