By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
Johannesburg (SA): Journalist-turned-author Rana Ayyub received a Citation of Excellence in the 2017 edition of the Global Shining Light Award for an undercover investigation revealing India’s top officials’ complicity in the 2002 Gujarat Riots in her book, “Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Coverup.”
The citation was given at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference on Saturday, November 18 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The prize honours investigative journalism conducted in a developing or transitioning country, done under threat, duress, or in the direst of conditions.
Two investigations were awarded first place which included “Inside the Massive Extrajudicial Killings in Nigeria’s South-East” and “How the Onitsha Massacre of Pro-Biafra Supporters was Coordinated,” on extrajudicial killings of a minority ethnic group in Nigeria, by Premium Times; and “Project No. 1,” by Beladi TV channel, on corruption in Iraq’s Ministry of Education.
Along with Rana Ayyub’s “Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Coverup,” another investigation that exposed an arms pipeline between Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East worth €1.2 billion in “Making a Killing,” also received the citation of excellence.
“By honouring the extraordinary work of these journalists at risk, we pay tribute to all the good work being done in so many places where courageous journalists keep the flame of watchdog reporting alive,” noted Sheila Coronel, Academic Affairs Dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, one of the judges.
The award drew 211 submissions from 67 countries for stories published or broadcast between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2016.
The Global Shining Light Award is sponsored by the Global Investigative Journalism Network, an association of 155 non-profit groups in 68 countries that work to support and spread investigative reporting.