The Hindu : Award for Frontline journalist

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 01, 2003

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National

Award for Frontline journalist

CHENNAI July 31. Asha Krishnakumar, Special Correspondent, Frontline, has won the second annual Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism, it was announced today. The award, administered by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, New York, has been instituted in honour of Kurt Schork, a freelance reporter killed in a military ambush while on assignment for Reuters in May 2000. It recognises exceptional reporting in print that sheds new light on controversial issues, including conflicts, human rights concerns or cross-border issues in a particular country or region. The award comes with a cash prize of $10,000.

A note from Columbia University says: "Asha Krishnakumar is recognised for her thorough, compassionate and determined reporting for Frontline, the socio-political magazine published in India, revealing the shameful abuses suffered by the most vulnerable people in society, children, and bringing their voices to life. Her coverage of the large-scale prevalence of child bondage in the silk-weaving industry, the distress among handloom weavers in Tamil Nadu and the constructive ways in which they can be helped, and the medical malpractice evidenced in kidney commerce led to reforms by the Tamil Nadu Government."

The selection was made by an international panel of judges. The other winner of the award this year is Elizabeth Rubin, a freelance reporter whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly and The New Republic. Four other entries received honourable mention.

The 2003 winners will be honoured at a ceremony at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism on October 28, 2003.

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