MUMBAI: The fifth edition of “The National Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity 2012-13” for honoring Media and Advertising professionals is being organized by NGO, Population First, on Thursday, 20th February, 2014, 6:30 PM at TATA Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Nariman Point, Mumbai. The awards are being presented by TATA and Supported by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The Laadli Media Awards were instituted in 2007, as part of the media advocacy efforts under the Laadli a girl-child campaign. The objective of the Awards is to recognize, acknowledge, felicitate and encourage media, journalists and advertising professionals working on gender issues. The awards draw the attention of the public to the positive efforts in the media with regard to gender sensitive reportage.
The Laadli of the Century Award is being presented to Ms. Shaukhat Kaifi, noted film and theatre personality who was one of the founder members of IPTA and the theatre movement in India. The Lifetime Achievement Award is being presented to Ms. Lalitha Lajmi a well known painter. The film Prem Manjhe Prem Manjhe Prem Astha!? a popular Marathi Film is selected under the film category.
From this year onwards, Laadli is instituting a special award titled “Laadli Extraordinaire” for honoring those media persons who have fought against gender violence, discrimination and have shown exemplary courage and conviction in their personal and professional life. This year’s award goes to Rina Mukherji, who fought against an established newspaper. Her services were terminated when she filed a sexual harassment complaint against a senior colleague.
The Honourable Minister of Public Health and Family Welfare and Protocol, Govt. of Maharashtra, Mr. Suresh Shetty, will be the Chief Guest along with Mr. Naseeruddin Shah, noted film personality, who will be the Guest of Honour for the event. The event will be hosted by television actress Simone Singh.
The event will have the screening of a play by The Creative Arts, titled ‘Baawre Mann ke Sapne’, winner of the best theatre Award this year.
A panel of distinguished jury members, comprising eminent media and social sector personalities namely Dilip D’souza, K.V. Sreedhar, Lynn de Souza, Sathya Saran, Satish Nandagaonkar, Shishir Joshi, Shobhaa De,Sidharth Bhatia, Monica TATA, Monica Wahi, Mrinmayee Ranade, Nandini Sardesai, Ranjona Banerji and Vishwanath Sachdev selected the winners for media and advertising awards.
Speaking about this 5th round of the Awards Dr A L Sharada, Director of Population First says “we have received around 1700+ entries this year and more than the increase in numbers what is satisfying is the range of topics covered- from problems faced by women in conflict areas of Kashmir to the strength of women in the remote areas of Kushinagar fighting for toilets at home to the need for understanding the problems of transgenders to the trauma of the two finger test for rape. All these varied topics have been dealt with a more gender nuanced perspective. The jury had a tough time selecting the winners. This goes to show that the concern is not just a fleeting one but here to stay. It is heartening to note that many of the winners have consciously made a decision to communicate with greater sensitivity.
In the two regional awards organized over the year, around 88 awards were given across all the States and Union Territories of the country covering 13 languages. Twenty Six awards were chosen for the national awards from among print, electronic and web journalists.
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