NDTV & Barkha shine in NY festival’s international television & film awards

| by B.Raman

( April 20, 2012, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Rarely do Indian IV channels and personalities figure in the highly prestigious annual New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards, which seek to recognise, according to the organisers, "The World's Best Work" in news, sports, documentary, information and entertainment programming as well as in music videos, infomercials and promotion spots. No Indian entry won a recognition last year. Four entries relating to South Asia won recognition last year----but all of them were produced by an Australian company.

Geoff Mason Lifetime Achievement Award winner at the 2012 New York Festivals International TV & Film Awards at the NAB Convention Center in Las Vegas

2. The year 2012 was different. Two Indian channels---NDTV and Sony--- broke the jinx of no recognition and not only entered the finals---out of more than a hundred entries from 40 countries--- but also won awards that brought appreciation and credit for the quality of Indian TV production.

3.In the summing-up of the awards that were announced at a gala at Las Vegas on April 17, NDTV figured prominently. Seven entries of NDTV reached the final as against two of Sony. Of the seven NDTV entries that reached the final, three were the works of Barkha Dutt, the Group Editor of NDTV and President of its Board of Editors.

4. These three were --- “The Women of Tahrir Square” under the “National/International Affairs” category, which went on to win the Bronze World Medal, “ Kashmir’s Unmarked Graves” under the “Best News Documentary/Special” category and the programme titled “ Being Gay: The Parents' Story “ in “We The People” shown every Sunday.

5. “The Women of Tahrir Square”, which highlighted the leadership role played by women in the democracy movement of Egypt in January-February last year, was produced by Barkha during a field reportage from Egypt and had also reached the final in the global awards for best TV films in London last November along with her documentary on the Libyan Uprising, which Barkha covered from the then rebel-held areas of Libya, one of the three Indian TV journalists to do so.

6. “The Women of Tahrir Square” contained, inter alia, some interviews with women recorded at great personal risk and was highly applauded when it was first shown last year. Barkha was ably aided during her field reportage of Egypt and Libya by an excellent team of experts headed by Ruby Dinghra, the producer. The Bronze World Medal of the New York Festivals is a well-deserved recognition for Barkha as well as her team.