ITANAGAR, Nov 17: Saint Claret’s College, Ziro (SCCZ) were once again crowned champions of the Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister’s Running Trophy Debate Competition, the final of which was held at the state banquet hall here on Friday.
Organized annually as part of the National Press Day (NPD) celebration by the Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ), the Arunachal Press Club (APC) and the Arunachal Electronic Media Association (AEMA) in collaboration with the information & public relations department, the topic for this year’s competition was ‘Newspaper in Arunachal is an obsolete form of media’.
SCCZ had won the trophy the previous year, as well. With this win, team SCCZ walked home with a cash prize of Rs 20,000, citation and the winner’s trophy, while Namsai University of Studies, which stood second, was awarded Rs 10,000 and the runner-up trophy.
SCCZ’s Tadah Tana (BCom 5th semester), who spoke for the motion, emerged as the individual winner of the contest as his unbiased interpretation of print, electronic and social media evoked appreciation from all quarters, including the judges.
Tana was awarded Rs 10,000 and a trophy.
The other participating teams and individuals were Charu Assum (BA 3rd semester) and Koj Sunku (BA 5th semester) from SCCZ; Mito Bage (BCom 3rd semester) and Joyson Rakha (BA 3rd semester) from Don Bosco College, Itanagar; and Jishma S Nair (MA political science, 3rd semester), Minsam Khimhum (BEd 3rd semester) and Maurya Shakya (BA Buddhist studies) from Namsai University of Studies.
The competition was conducted under the supervision of debate in-charge Tanom Jerang, and moderated by Rajiv Gandhi University’s mass communication Assistant Professor Moji Riba.
Doimukh Government College Principal Dr MQ Khan, Capital SP M Harsh Vardhan and The Arunachal Times Associate Editor Tongam Rina were the judges of the event.
Six journalists were conferred with the V Ravindran Memorial Excellence in Journalism Awards for their outstanding works. The awardees are Jun Taki (Eastern Sentinel), Marina Tato (Independent Review) and Shonaam Tabri Dada (The Arunachal Pioneer) from the print media, and Ajoy Roy (Itanagar News), Sangey Droma Bodoi (Arunachal Today) and Sapna Tayem Taku (Arunachal News 24X7) from the electronic media.
The award is named after late V Ravindran Nair, former associate editor of The Dawnlit Post, who started journalism with the Echo of Arunachal in 1988. The award has been instituted by the APUWJ in association with the APC and the AEMA. It has three categories for both the print and the electronic media – human interest, politics and governance, and investigative.
In the human interest category in the print media, Taki was awarded for his work titled ‘The story of “Spice Ziro”’, and in the electronic media Roy won the award for his report on the mental health care centre in Midpu.
Tato won the award in the governance and politics (print) category for her article titled ‘Dambuk: Beyond the orange gardens’, and Bodoi’s report on ‘Operationalization of multi-storied parking in Itanagar’ earned her the equivalent award in the electronic category.
Dada’s report titled ‘Villagers near IAF firing range living in dread, inhaling chemicals, going deaf’ won him the recognition in the investigative (print) category, and the equivalent award in the electronic category went to Taku for her story on unauthorized sale of petroleum products in Seppa.
