The new award for civic reporting has been instituted in memory of the former Resident Editor of The Indian Express in Pune, Prakash Kardaley. This award will honour a print journalist whose sustained effort highlights a civic issue and forces the authorities to find a solution to it. Kardaley, who defined pro-active journalism in Pune, was also one of the prime movers behind the Right to Information Act.

The presenting sponsor of the RNG Awards for Excellence in Journalism this year will be S Kumars Nationwide Limited. The last date for submission of entries is April 15, 2008. Reports published or telecast between April 1, 2006, and December 31, 2007, are eligible to be submitted for this year’s awards.

The RNG Excellence in Journalism Awards, which was set up in the centenary year of the founder of the Express Group, Ramnath Goenka, has acknowledged the finest in print and broadcast journalism, in English and regional languages, the past two years. In the first year, Varghese K George of The Indian Express and Praveen Swamy of Frontline shared the Journalist of the Year (Print) while NDTV’s Barkha Dutt was awarded the Journalist of the Year (TV). Last year, Ritu Sarin of The Indian Express won the Journalist of the Year (Print) and CNN-IBN’s Rajdeep Sardesai, Journalist of the Year (TV).