The Agahi Awards are an annual series of awards for
journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...
in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
. They were inaugurated in 2012 and are Pakistan's first ever
Journalism Awards
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profe ...
. These awards are organized by Mishal Pakistan, which is a media consultancy firm, in collaboration with leading press clubs across the country, local and international media development bodies, regulatory authorities and the private sector.
History
The Agahi Awards took place for the first time ever, on the 28th of March, 2012, in
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...
, Pakistan. The awards were organized by Mishal Pakistan and AGAHI foundation, which is a non-profit organization aimed at improving investigative journalism in Pakistan.
The Agahi Awards are aimed at recognizing the best journalists reporting on critical issues ranging from; Terrorism, Conflict, Interfaith, Safety & Security, Code of Conduct etc. This initiative is aimed at scaling up the training and capacity building efforts of the journalists in Pakistan, by creating a sense of competition in them.
The Agahi Awards is an endeavour undertaken by AGAHI Foundation, which is a program which was launched in 2011 by Mishal Pakistan, for increasing the capacity of investigative and responsible journalism in Pakistan. The Agahi Awards are going to be an annual event in which nominations will be submitted for different categories including People's Choice Awards.
Categories
The Agahi Awards called for nominations in the following categories;
#Business & Economy
#
Conflict
Conflict may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton
* ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne
* ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...
#
Corruption
#
Crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...
#
Education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
#Energy, Water and Food Security
#
Environment
Environment most often refers to:
__NOTOC__
* Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally
* Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...
#
Gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures ...
#
Governance
Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society over a social system ( family, tribe, formal or informal organization, a territory or across territories). It is done by the gove ...
#
Health
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
#
Human Rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
#
Infotainment
#
Interfaith
Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions (i.e. "faiths") and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels. It is ...
#
Judiciary
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
#Media Ethics
#Photo Journalism
#Terrorism and Extremism
#Miscellaneous
Rules
AGAHI has developed a set of rules based upon which nominations in the categories are evaluated. These set of rules have been in collaboration with the
Center for International Media Ethics (CIME). The entries submitted are evaluated on the following indicators;
#Content reflecting
diversity
Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to:
Business
*Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce
*Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers
* ...
.
#Content should serve the need of all groups in the society: public, private and community based.
#Content displays culture of self-regulation.
#Communicating with fairness and impartiality.
#Content displays high-level of trust and confidence with the civil society organization/academia.
#The content should also reflect the
linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
diversity of the targeted issues.
#The content should represent the views of the entire political spectrum and the wide spectrum of the social interests including the weakest segments of the society.
Venue
The Agahi Awards 2012 took place at the Pakistan-China Friendship Center, located in the heart of
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...
,
Award event
The Event was attended by leading journalists from Pakistan and other countries. The evaluation committee consisted of 17 judges who were all leading journalists from different countries. The winners were handed out trophies and two special trophies were also given out based on 'People's Choice Awards'.
Media coverage
The Agahi Awards were given coverage on a national level and footage from the awards was telecasted on different national news channels including;
Geo News,
Samaa TV
Samaa TV ( ur, سماء) is a Pakistani Urdu language news channel owned by Aleem Khan. It is the fourth-largest news channel in Pakistan with a market share of 7 percent.
The word 'Samaa' ("سما") is Urdu for 'sky' or 'heaven'. It is broadca ...
and Express TV.
Controversy
The Agahi Awards were branded as the "First Journalism Awards in Pakistan" and their tagline was "Shaping the future of journalism in Pakistan". When this event was marketed, it created quite a stir amongst the journalists who claimed that these were not the 'first' journalism awards, in fact the journalism awards conducted by
APNS (All Pakistan Newspapers Society), were the first ones to be held in this country.
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.agahiawards.com/
Pakistani journalism awards
Awards established in 2012
2012 establishments in Pakistan
Pakistani journalism