‘‘You are in the business of capturing the minds of people, of shaping ideas and thereby transforming society. I hope these awards will encourage more of our journalists to pursue the journalism of change,’’ said Prime Minister Singh.

Remembering his father Ramnath Goenka’s passion for journalism, chairman of the Ramnath Goenka Foundation and Chairman and Managing Director of the Indian Express group, Viveck Goenka, said: ‘‘If my father was watching today, he would have said, let’s get straight to the story.’’

That line set much of the mood of the morning and the brief, focussed and lively ceremony that followed.

Dutt got the award for her reports from Nagapattinam that captured the tragedy of lives shattered by the tsunami; Swami for his stories on terrorism in Kashmir and George for exposing the Bihar Flood Relief scandal.

Each of the award-winning work represented an excellence that leads to equity, said The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta. ‘‘The debate between equity and excellence is more important than ever now,’’ he added.

The event was attended among others by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Union ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde, Praful Patel, Suresh Pachauri and Ram Vilas Paswan, Army chief JJ Singh, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Congress leader Ahmed Patel, economist Lord Meghnad Desai, CPI leader D Raja, Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, JD(U) leader Jaya Jaitley, MPs Rajeev Shukla, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Naveen Jindal, director of Videocon Industries Anidrudh Dhoot, former minister and former editor of The Indian Express Arun Shourie, NDTV’s Prannoy Roy, Pakistan High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan and CEO of Bharti Group Sunil Mittal. Jury members, senior Supreme Court lawyer Fali S Nariman, ONGC chairman and managing director Subir Raha and National Commission for Farmers Chairman M S Swaminathan, too, were present.

... contd.