New Delhi: The Wire‘s Arfa Khanum Sherwani and Faiyaz Ahmad Wajeeh bagged the prestigious Red Ink Awards on Friday. While Sherwani won in the Politics (TV) category for her interview with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of The Art of Living foundation, Wajeeh was declared winner of the Arts (TV) category for his video on a bookstore that brought together Urdu’s literary greats.

Sherwani’s interview with Ravi Shankar was on his comments on the Ayodhya land dispute case in March 2018, when he said if the Ram mandir issue is not resolved “we will have a Syria in India”. While Sherwani pressed him on the issue, the interview was ended abruptly by members of his team. The video was produced by Akhil Kumar, while the camera was handled by Moniza Hafizee and editing by Asad Ali.

﻿

Wajeeh’s story was on 88-year old Shahid Ali Khan’s lifelong passion for Urdu literature. His journey with Maktaba Jamia, a publishing house and bookstore, took him from Delhi to Mumbai in 1957, where he befriended renowned Urdu writers and poets like Sahir Ludhianvi, Jan Nisar Akhtar, Meena Kumari and Jagan Nath Azad. He now runs the Nai Kitab publishing house in Delhi.

The video was produced by Hina Fathima, who also handled the camera. The video was narrated by Yasmeen Rashidi, while the poetry was translated by Meenakshi Tewari.

﻿

Apart from the two winners, The Wire‘s Kabir Agarwal, Jahnavi Sen, Yasmeen Rashidi and Ishita Mishra also received special mentions for their stories. Agarwal’s four-part series on Swach Bharat and its implementation in Uttar Pradesh received a special mention in the Health and Wellness category. Read the four parts here.

Jahnavi Sen’s story on the failure of the government to recognise and rehabilitate manual scavengers received a special mention in the Human Rights category. Ishita Mishra’s story on the BJP’s efforts to monitor the stories published in the media also received a special mention, in the Politics category. Yasmeen Rashidi’s story on Muslim women and their education received a special mention in the women empowerment and gender equality (TV) category.

The Red Ink Awards for Excellence in Journalism are announced annually by the Mumbai Press Club and recognise meritorious work in TV, print and digital formats. Awards are presented in various categories such as politics, crime, health and wellness, business, environment, human rights, photography, science and innovation, entertainment and lifestyle, and sports as well as a category called ‘Mumbai Star Reporter’. It is the only awards instituted by a professional body.

The Journalist of the Year Award went to former Tribune journalist Rachna Khaira for her expose on the functioning of the Unique Identification Authority of Indian (UIDAI) and its Aadhaar data cache. Lifetime achievement awards were given to former Maharashtra Times journalist Dinu Ranadiv and Mumbai Mirror‘s former photo editor Sebastian D’Souza.