MUMBAI: CNN International will host the fifth annual award ceremony of CNN Young Journalist Award (CNN YJA) on 14 December 2007. The awards will be given away at a gala ceremony in New Delhi. CNN YJA is the first of its kind award to recognise quality journalism among young media professionals in India and Pakistan.

This year, the awards have five categories: the CNN Young Journalist Award for Print/Online and Television, CNN Journalist Award, CNN Photo Journalist Award, CNN Citizen Journalist Award and CNN Aspiring Journalist Award.

The first three categories target young, professional/working journalists in India and Pakistan. CNN Citizen Journalist Award was instituted to encourage citizens of India [who are not professional journalists] to play an active role in the process of collecting and disseminating news and information on issues that have an impact on society. Whereas CNN Aspiring Journalist Award offers a platform to students of journalism in India to exhibit their talent in the field of journalism. A novel feature this year has been the large number of entries from both India & Pakistan for the CNN Photo Journalist Award and the CNN Journalist Award – a special award included this year to celebrate 60th year of India and Pakistan’s Independence.

As in previous years, CNN YJA, once again, received an overwhelming response from journalists in both countries. The winners of CNN YJA 2007 would be announced in the presence of CNN New Delhi bureau chief Phil Turner and CNN International reporter and producer Mallika Kapur.

All the entries had to go through a stringent selection process. The entries for CNN YJA, CNN Journalist Award and CNN Photo Journalist Award categories have been evaluated by a jury panel. For the CNN Aspiring Journalist Award, the entrants were asked to submit an essay in 1,000 words on the topic: ‘Has the media broadened its reach only to narrow its focus’.

Ten best finalists will be judged in an on-the-spot contest, a day prior to the awards’ evening. For the CNN Citizen Journalist Award, the executive jury chose the winner from the images/video files broadcast on CNN-IBN, between 1 January, 2007 and 30 September, 2007.