Sarojini Naidu Prize 2011On September 15, 2011, the Jury for the The Hunger Project’s Sarojini Naidu Prize (SNP)for Best Reporting on Women and Panchayati Raj met at the India International Centre to determine this year’s winners.

The SNP is awarded annually to journalists in three language categories – English, Hindi and Other Regional Languages – with the aim of encouraging the press to energetically and prominently report on the breakthroughs and success stories of women in leadership in India.

The Jury made its decision based on the journalistic quality of each submitted article, the depth of the subject and the regularity with which journalists have written on women in panchayats in the last year.

Sarojini Naidu Prize 2011 Jury | Womens Leadership - IndiaJury members included:

  • Chair: Dr. George Mathew, Director, Institute of Social Sciences
  • Dr. S.S. Meenakshisundaram, Executive Vice Chairman, MYRADA
  • Ms. Urvashi Butalia, Co-founder, Kali for Women and Director, Zubaan
  • Ms. Pamela Phillipose, Director, Women’s Feature Service
  • Ms. Mani Mala, Director, Gandhi Smriti & Darshan Samiti.

The winners of the 11th Annual SNP are:

  • Hindi Category – Narjis Husain for her article Talking Walls of Vijayapura Panchayat(Published in Rashtriya Sahara)
    • Narjis is a New Delhi-based journalist who has contributed to mainstream journalism since 1997. Her article speaks of the enormous achievements of a woman sarpanch (president of village council) in Rajasthan.
  • English Category – Aditi Bhaduri for her article “Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Courage” (Published in Sentinel, Guwahati)
    • Aditi’s is a Kolkata-based independent journalist who wrote on the role of women leaders in the Jammu & Kashmir Gram Panchayat elections. Her article speaks of the need for development in the valley and the role women want to play in bringing change and development in their villages. > Read the article
  • Other Indian Languages Category – Guruvappa Balepuni for his article “A Live Example of Rural Development” (Published in Hosa Digantha)
    • Balepuni discusses the achievements of an elected woman representative, Ratna, in Bantwal district of Dakshin Karnataka. His article portrays an in-depth look at the different facets of good governance and analyzes the decentralized Panchayati Raj system.

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