Journalists from India, Thailand, Cambodia, Fiji Islands

Manila (20 April 2006) – Journalists from India, Thailand, Cambodia, and Republic of Fiji Islands received the top prizes at the 2006 Developing Asia Journalism Awards (DAJA) last night.

M. Suchitra, 43, of India, was named Development Journalist of the Year at the awards ceremony held at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Manila.

The annual event, now in its third year, is cosponsored by Manila-based ADB and the Asian Development Bank Institute in Tokyo and aims to recognize excellence in journalistic reporting by those covering development trends and issues in the region.

The finalists for the awards comprised 16 journalists from 11 developing countries of Asia and the Pacific. The countries represented this year among the finalists were Cambodia, People's Republic of China (PRC), Fiji Islands, India, Indonesia, Kyrgyz Republic, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. They were invited to a two-day program in Manila, culminating in the awards ceremony, hosted by CNN anchor/host Lorraine Hahn.

Ms. Suchitra, the first female overall DAJA winner, received the award for her article on how inadequate maternity care is costing tribal women their lives.

The Bangkok Post’s Supara Janchitfah, 43, was awarded Development Woman Journalist of the Year for her story on Muslim fishermen using knowledge and information to protect their seas from commercial trawlers.

Fiji Islands’ Samisoni Pareti, 38, of Islands Business News, won the Island Journalist Award for his piece on the lucrative market for human labor exports, while 25-year-old Rith Sam of the Phnom Penh Post in Cambodia was named Young Development Journalist of the Year for his story on "Widows still fighting the demons of war."

In addition to the special prizes, in which the winners received $2,000 each plus a trophy, other awards were also given for reporting in four strategic areas of development, with winners and runners up each receiving cash prizes ranging from US$1,500 to $500.

The top prize in the Women and Development category was given to Ma. Theresa Bacalla, 42, from the Philippines for her article on the leadership role of women one year after the Quezon mudslide disaster.

First runner up was awarded to 28-year-old Tahira Sarwar of Pakistan who contributed a piece on the growing practice of honor crimes against women in Pakistan.

After being highly recommended in 2005, Aida Kasymalieva, of the Kyrgyz Republic returned to claim the second runner up spot in the Women and Development category. Ms. Kasymalieva, 21, was awarded for her feature on growing alcohol problems among her country's rural women.

The Poverty Issues category was won by 29-year-old Deepa A. of India, who investigated the scandal of poor people being denied free places in Delhi's private schools.

The first runner-up was Chit Estella, 48, of the Philippines, who wrote on how substandard nursing schools are selling dreams of life abroad, while the second runner up prize was given to 54-year-old Shahid Husain of Pakistan, who examined the effect of rampant unemployment and rising prices on Pakistan's poor.

Keshab Poudel, 46, of Nepal followed up on his success in 2005 in the DAJA Poverty Issues section by claiming the top prize in the Development Agencies and Development Theme category this year. Mr. Poudel’s article focused on how local farmers are moving from subsistence-based to commercial agriculture.

First runner up was 22-year-old Dilshath Banu Noordeen of Sri Lanka who wrote a piece on problems caused by debris that has built up along the Sri Lankan coastline after the tsunami.

Second runner up was Saumya Roy, 27, of India who was awarded for her article on innovative sanitation in the slum areas of Mumbai.

The PRC claimed the top two spots in the People and Development category, with Ouyang Bin, 26, winning for an article that profiles a local nongovernment organization that devotes its energies to the country's big agricultural problems.

Lin Gu, 32, a finalist in 2004, took the first runner up prize with a story published in China Features on genetically modified rice, while 26-year-old Heni Kurniasih of Indonesia claimed the second runner up spot for her article on illegal logging at a national park in Borneo.

The winners were selected by an independent panel of judges that consisted of 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.