Two books in The Indian Express Group Book Series were also launched at the function: India Empowered, a collection of articles by leaders from various fields written for a special series published by the newspaper and The Prize Stories, a book on the reports that won the awards last year.

The event was attended among others by BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Ravi Shankar Prasad, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, civil aviation minister Praful Patel, minister for petroleum and gas Murli Deora, minister for science and technology Kapil Sibal, minister of state (PMO) Prithviraj Chavan, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury, MPs Rajeev Shukla, Sachin Pilot, Naveen Jindal and Sandeep Dikshit, Infosys chairman N.R. Narayanamurthy, former ONGC chairman Subir Raha, senior SC lawyer Fali Nariman, economist Meghnad Desai, former editor of The Indian Express Arun Shourie and filmmaker Shyam Benegal.

The awards given, it was the President’s turn to receive a memento: two photographs of him taken by Express photographer Praveen Jain, one the day before he took charge as President, the other his chariot ride.

Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards 2006-2007:

• Journalist of the Year (Print): Ritu Sarin, The Indian Express

• Journalist of the Year (Broadcast): Rajdeep Sardesai, CNN-IBN

• Reporting on HIV/AIDS (Print), Marathi: Shekhar Vasant Deshmukh, Loksatta

• Reporting on HIV/AIDS (Print, English): Sadhna Mohan, AIDS Buzz

• Journalism Award for Books (Nonfiction): Dionne Bunsha, Frontline

• Films and Television (Print): Mayank Shekhar, Mumbai Mirror

... contd.