Top Journalism Awards for Reporters from Pakistan, PRC, and Viet Nam

Journalists from Pakistan, the People's Republic of China (PRC), and Viet Nam took top honors in Tokyo last night in the first Developing Asia Journalism Awards, organized by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI).

Massoud Ansari, an investigative reporter from Pakistan's Newsline magazine, was named Development Journalist of the Year while Ma Guihua of China Features was awarded the Woman Development Journalist of the Year. Tran Thi Le Thuy, a reporter with Vietnam Economic Times, won the Young Development Journalist of the Year category.

More than 250 stories were submitted for the awards by 89 entrants from across ADB's developing member countries. From these, 20 finalists, who were invited to the ceremony in Tokyo, and the eventual winners were selected by a jury of three that included presiding judge Anthony Rowley, Tokyo Correspondent of the Business Times of Singapore and Field Editor for Oxford Analytica; Yoshio Murakami, Adviser on International Affairs to the Asahi Shimbun; and Suvendrini Kakuchi, a Sri Lankan journalist reporting for Inter Press Service.

"We three judges ... were each very impressed by the overall high standard of entries for this, the first of the ADBI Developing Asia Journalism Awards," said Mr. Rowley, at the ceremony, held at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.

The overall winners also won first prize in three of six special categories. The full category winners are as follows:

Pro-poor sustainable economic growth: Winner Ma Guihua of the PRC, 1st runner-up Afshan Subohi Hyder of Pakistan, and 2nd runner-up Hu Yifan of the PRC. Honorable mentions went to Irina Boyko of Uzbekistan and Abdullah Jameel Ahmed of Maldives.

Inclusive social development: Lalitha Sridhar of India, 1st runner-up Zofeen Ebrahim of Pakistan, 2nd runner-up Miriam Grace Go of the Philippines.

Good governance and anti-corruption: Winner Massoud Ansari of Pakistan, 1st runner-up Supara Janchitfah of Thailand, 2nd runner up Aries Rufo of the Philippines.

Role of the private sector in development: Winner Gajendra Budhathoki of Nap, 1st runner-up Jofelle Tesorio of the Philippines, 2nd runner-up Hoang Tu Giang of Viet Nam.

Regional cooperation and integration for development: Winner Tran Thi Le Thuy of Viet Nam, 1st runner-up Lin Gu of the PRC, 2nd runner-up, Afshan Subohi Hyder of Pakistan.

Environmental sustainability: Winner Wang Ya of the PRC, 1st runner-up Anne Poorna Swarnamalie Rodrigo of Sri Lanka, 2nd unner-up Yasmin Arquiza of the Philippines. Honorable mention went to Loh Foon Fong of Malaysia.

"The awards were organized to publicly recognize the efforts made by Asian and Pacific print journalists from developing countries who provide high-quality coverage of issues affecting growth and development," said Peter McCawley, Dean of ADBI.

The awards are, "we hope, a modest step in the direction of strengthening the voice of the Asia-Pacific region on the international stage," he added.

He said that journalism contributes to good governance by playing a watchdog role on political and official leaders and by "encouraging informed debate about national policies and helping create constituencies for reform."

The three overall winners were awarded $2,000 each, while category winners and runnersup received $1,500, $1,000, and $500, respectively. Nineteen of 20 finalists in the competition, from 11 developing countries, attended the ceremony in Tokyo and took part in a two-day program that included visits to media organizations based in the city, NHK, Reuters and the Mainichi Shimbun.

Mr. Ansari, 33, has worked as a journalist for 14 years, traveling throughout Pakistan and remote areas of Afghanistan and Kashmir, writing stories exposing corruption, religious fundamentalism, and trafficking. His entries, included "courage under fire" about the perils faced by NGOs and aid agencies in Afghanistan, and an article exposing corruption in the public education system in Pakistan.

Ms. Ma, 38, who was awarded for two articles - on microfinance for rural women and the PRC's poor rural schools - has been with China Features for 13 years and specializes in development-related issues. Praised by her editor as a "meticulous researcher," her stories range from education, poverty, and health to environmental protection.

Ms. Tran, 28, who submitted an article headlined "Making aid more effective," worked through the ranks from intern to key reporter on the Vietnam Economic Times. Her editor, Chu Van Lam, says she is a "tenacious and concerned reporter" who has a rare blend of top writing and interpersonal skills.

"I think this competition has reminded us that good journalism can make people aware of the human dimensions of development in a way that official reports can never hope to do," Mr. Rowley said.

"Development issues are often cloaked in official jargon, so that they become unrecognizable as issues involving people. But good journalism can restore the human dimension and make us see these problems not in terms of cold statistics but of people and their sufferings."