Vaishnavi Rathore has been awarded the prestigious IPI-India Award for Excellence in Journalism for her well-researched exposé on the ecological and social risks of the Great Nicobar port project.
Rathore is a journalist with the news website Scroll. in. Her reporting centred the voices of the people most affected in the environmental crisis in the Great Nicobar Islands. Her reports showed how the Great Nicobar port project, which is being developed as a shipping hub, would destroy a unique and fragile ecosystem and also could result in the genocide of several endangered tribes.
The award carries a cash prize of Rs 2 Lakh, along with a trophy and a citation.
The selection was made by distinguished jury of editors led by former Supreme Court Judge, Madan B. Lokur, along with other members of the jury, Riyad Mathew; Chairman, IPI-India and Chief Associate Editor and Director, Malayala Manorama, Shobhaa De; renowned columnist and Vijay Joshi; Editor-in-Chief, Press Trust of India.
The IPI-India Award, instituted in 2003, has honoured journalists and media organisations that have upheld the highest standards of journalism. With Rathore’s selection, the list of awardees now stands at 21.
The India Chapter of the IPI is an active forum of Editors, Publishers and Senior Executives of newspapers, magazines and news agencies, all of whom are members of the International Press Institute. “The Indian Chapter has successfully hosted the World Congress and General Assembly of the IPI in India in 1966 and 2001, and has been taking up various issues related to the freedom of the press in India,” the statement by the IPI-India said.
Established 72 years ago in New York and currently based in Vienna as the headquarters, the IPI has long advocated the free exchange of balanced and accurate information across borders. “It has also been in the forefront of safeguarding the freedom of the press against restrictions imposed on the free flow of information,” the statement added.