Dubai: Anand Raj O.K., Features Editor at Friday magazine of Gulf News, Dubai, has won in the international category of the Aster Media Awards instituted by the DM Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Aster DM Healthcare, a leading private health-care service providers in the GCC and India.
Rewarded for socially impactful journalism within the Gulf Cooperation Council region, the International category of the award is dedicated to the memory of Shri P.V. Vivekanand, former editor of a Sharjah-based English daily. The winner will be given a citation and shall receive a cash prize of Dh25,000.
Dr Azad Moopen, founder chairman of Aster DM Healthcare and Founder of DM Foundation, said: “We believe that mainstream media has a critical role to play in setting the agenda for building incremental social capital and we hope by instituting the Aster Media Awards more journalists will take up areas of reporting which can produce social impact highlight issues to provide actionable information that will help bring socio-economic transformation.”
“We are enthusiastic of the response to the Aster Media Awards in its inaugural edition. The quality and depth of the work by the journalists is enormous and tireless. It is impressive to note that their reportage has triggered acknowledgement and positive action,” he added.
Raj’s feature in the November 6, 2015 edition of Friday magazine was about the transformation of a neglected government school into one of the best in the country owing to the intervention of a Dubai-based businessman from Kerala. The story was commended for being “very good on-ground reporting’ and an inspiration for others on how Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) could potentially improve crucial areas such as education in India. The story also helped highlight the fact that with adequate support, government schools, too, can be brought up to international standards.
