All journalists do their jobs.
Some, though, do a service. Tarun Sehrawat, who passed away last year at 23, was such a journalist. His rare courage, passion and skill made him choose the hardest assignments, those that took him beyond the city into the darkest hinterlands of India. Driven by a rare empathy for the dispossessed and an intuitive moral concern, he wanted to tell the most challenging stories of our time. He wanted to use his camera as a tool of justice.
Heartbreakingly, we lost Tarun too soon, in June 2012 – in the process of trying to tell one of the most devastating stories of them all, in the heart of the Maoist hinterland. The only thing he asked for in brief moments of consciousness during the month he grappled with a dreaded strain of cerebral malaria was his camera.
In death, as in his life, Tarun exposed a crucial story: the almost criminal absence of health care in huge swathes of India.
THE AWARD
Tarun Sehrawat was rare. But he was not alone. Our community is full of those exceptional professionals – photographers and reporters, cameramen and radio journalists and videographers – who put their lives on the line to tell compelling stories. Whose journalism reflects not just courage, but conscience. And there’s no greater combination of attributes in the profession of journalism that we would like to laud more.
To support the profession, to foster and applaud similar passion and courage, Tehelka is privileged to announce an annual award for Journalism of Courage and Conscience in memory of Tarun Sehrawat.
This award will honour stories and images – in any Indian language — that capture injustice, inequity, dispossession and other social, cultural, economic and political faultlines in the country. If it’s in any language other than English, kindly send it translated in English with the original copy or clip.
Applicants can submit a print, web or television story as well as photo features.
Each year an eminent jury will choose a story or image that are not only powerful and skilled but are driven by a deep moral and social concern or have been pursued at great personal risk.
The award will be announced each year at THiNK, Tehelka’s flagship event that hosts some of the world’s most celebrated speakers and a highly influential audience.
THE SUM
Rs 1.5 lakh to the winner of the print or web story category.
Rs 1.5 lakh to the winner of the electronic medium or photo feature category.
We will also fly the two award-winners to THiNK2013 being held in Goa from November 8th to 10th 2013. We will host them for the three days of the event as our guests to receive the award in person, giving them a chance to interact with some of the most cutting-edge minds of our time.
PROCEDURE & CRITERIA
Editors or journalists can nominate entries by sending them to Shoma Chaudhury, Managing Editor, Tehelka at shoma.me@tehelka.com or submitting hard copies at M-76, M Block market, Greater Kailash-2, New Delhi-110048.
Period of publication between 15 August 2012 to 15 August 2013.
Deadline has been extended to 15 Oct.
