The Ramnath Goenka Foundation is inviting entries for the third annual Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards. The country’s biggest media awards, with 23 categories and over Rs 25 lakh as prize money, has added one more category, Excellence in Civic Journalism, this year.

“The idea behind the awards is to celebrate excellent journalism and showcase outstanding contributions and individuals every year. And in just two years, the RNG Awards has grown into a pan-Indian institution — it has honoured talent not just in the English language media but from small regional language newspapers as well,” said Viveck Goenka, Chairman of the Ramnath Goenka Foundation.

The awards will be for the following categories: Journalist of the Year (Print & TV), Reporting from J&K and the Northeast (Print & TV); Excellence in Journalism, Hindi (Print & Broadcast); Excellence in Journalism, Regional Languages (Print & Broadcast); Reporting on Environment (Print & Broadcast); Reporting India Invisible (Print & Broadcast); Foreign Correspondent Covering India ( Print, Radio or TV); Business and Economic Journalism (Print & Broadcast); Political Reporting (Print & TV); Sports Journalism (Print & TV); Film & TV Journalism (Print &TV); Books (Non-fiction); Reporting on HIV/AIDS (Print, English & Marathi); and Civic Reporting (Print).

The award for HIV/AIDS reporting is instituted in association with USAID, Avert Society and Health Communication Partnership/Johns Hopkins University (HCP/JHU). The two award winners, one each in English and Marathi, will be nominated to attend the three-week Leadership in Strategic Health Communication Workshop at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Centre for Communication Programs in Baltimore, USA, in June 2008.

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