Charkha announces winners of Sanjoy Ghose Media Awards 2022

Charkha Development Communication Network, a non-profit organization working towards the social and economic inclusion of disadvantaged rural communities through the creative use of media, announced the Sanjoy Ghose Media Awards 2022.

This year, all the five awardees are women writers - Shefali Martin (Rajasthan), Seetu Tiwari (Bihar), Archana Kishore (New Delhi), Ruby Sarkar (Madhya Pradesh) and Rehana Kausar (Jammu and Kashmir), who have been selected for highlighting the most pressing, and underreported issues concerning adolescent girls and women in the rural parts of India.

An eminent jury panel that constituted Swati Singh (Founder of Muheem& Feminism In India's Hindi Editor), ManabiKatoch (Chief Editor- Hindi and Regional, The Better India), and Dr. Afsana Rashid (Assistant Professor, MERC, University of Kashmir) selected these five writers out of over thirty applications received from different parts of the country.

Independent writers Shefali, Seetu, and Ruby will write on the issues of women's entrepreneurship, girl child trafficking, and gender-based violence in rural India, respectively. Archana and Rehana, a part of Charkha's network of rural writers, will be writing on women's entrepreneurship and Gender-based violence (GBV) against young girls and women in rural areas.

In the course of the next three months, the awardees are expected to submit five well-researched articles on their respective themes. Each awardee will receive certification and a cash prize of INR 50,000/- to support their research. The publication of these twenty-five articles will aim at amplifying the stories of struggle and success as experienced by young girls and women in some of the most marginalized rural communities. Through a targeted media campaign, Charkha will also attempt to create a discussion to influence public policy and stir the social conscience of people.

"In recent years, issues impacting the lives of women have found some space in the mainstream media, but it is still limited to urban landscapes and writers from these spaces. Charkha, through this award, aims to highlight women's voices and stories of their native geographical and cultural areas in the mainstream and alternative media," shared Chetna Verma, Chief Executive Officer, Charkha.

These awards are inspired by Charkha’s founder, Sanjoy Ghose, who worked towards the social and economic inclusion of marginalized rural communities through the creative use of media. Started over two decades ago, these awards support a cadre of development communicators who may ultimately create the most influential models of sustainable change. Awardees come together to share ideas and usher change towards creating a new genre of media that is visionary, responsible, and sensitive towards its role as the fourth pillar of democracy.

The winners of Category 2 will be announced on October 10, 2022.

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