



New Delhi: Veteran journalist Vinod Dua has won the RedInk Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism for 2017. Instituted by the Mumbai Press Club, the award is a part of the National RedInk Awards for Excellence in Journalism. The award will be given to Dua by Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday, June 7, in Mumbai.

Dua, a consulting editor at The Wire Hindi currently anchors The Wire’s ‘Jan Gan Man Ki Baat,’ where he discusses burning issues from the Indian socio-political sphere.

Dua is a versatile journalist who has contributed extensively to different formats of journalism. He was one of India’s first psephologists and anchored election analysis programs with Prannoy Roy on Doordarshan. Since then, he has been a regular anchor for different election analysis programmes on television. Later, he went on to anchor Janvani (People’s Voice), a first of its kind show which provided a platform for ordinary people to come forward and pose questions to ministers about their policies.

Watch: All episodes of ‘Jan Gan Man Ki Baat‘

Dua produced Parakh, a weekly current affairs magazine telecast on Doordarshan, as well as other popular news shows like Tasveer-e-Hind, Chunav Chunauti, Pratidin and Parakh, and Kaun Banega Mukhyamantri.

He edited Newstrack, the first video magazine in the country produced by the India Today Group, although the format was later phased out. He worked at chief producer of TV Today, a venture of the India Today Group, was an editor of NDTV India and continues to be an active journalist.

The lifetime achievement award recognises his immense contribution to the field of journalism. Former winners of the award include Vinod Mehta, Kuldip Nayar, N.Ram, Mrinal Pande and Roy. Last year, T.N. Ninan won the lifetime achievement award.

Raj Kamal Jha, chief editor of the Indian Express, will receive the RedInk Award for the ‘Journalist of the Year’ for 2017, for providing “exemplary stewardship over the last couple of years to the newspaper”. Jha, who succeeded Shekhar Gupta, has been with the Express since 1996. He was able to direct the newspaper’s movement towards more “focused reporting” and restored its talent for investigative journalism, a press release from the Mumbai Press Club said. He was also responsible for making the newspaper a part of the international investigative team that exposed the ‘Panama Papers’ global money laundering scam.

Jha has also worked with the Statesman in Kolkata and the India Today Group in New Delhi.

Due and Jha were chosen by the Mumbai Press Club’s managing committee after a lengthy period of consultations with senior journalists, and over 100 other journalists.

The Redink Awards for Excellence in Journalism recognises meritorious work in TV, print and digital formats, presenting awards 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.

The RedInk Awards is the only national recognition for good journalism instituted by a professional body.

The Wire won the 2016 RedInk Award for start-up of the year.