ISLAMABAD: More than 40 journalists were awarded at the Agahi Awards annual distribution ceremony at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) on Saturday.

The award for Favourite News Channel of the Year went to ARY News, while Shahzeb Khanzada and Ayesha Bakhsh won Favourite Current Affairs Anchor male and female, respectively, in the people’s choice categories.

Kashif Abbasi was recognised as the Most Credible Anchor of the Year, while Dawn News’ Zara Hut Kay won Jury’s Choice for Current Affairs Programme of the year.

Newscaster of the Year went to Mazhar Nisar Sheikh, while Hasan Raza was recognised as Investigative Journalist of the Year.

‘Shaping the Future of Journalism’ is an event organised by the two NGOs Agahi and Mishal, which are run by Puruesh Chaudhry and Amir Jahangir respectively. This year, the organisers received over 3,000 nominations from across the country.

Other award-winning journalists from various categories included Islam Gul Afridi, Yousaf Ajab Baloch, Adil Pervez, Shabina Faraz, Murtaza Zaib, Rehan Mohammad, Raja Kamran, Naimat Khan, Sana Jamal, Usman Hanif, Abdul Salam Afridi, Shazia Hassan, Fouzia Zeb, Saadat Hassan, Rizwana Naqvi and Zareef Balouch.

Syed Babar Ali, Zahid Gill, Mahrukh Sarwar, Syed Babar Ali, Syed Miqdad Mehdi, Hasham Cheema, Zoral Khurram, Narendar Kumar, Sana Ejaz, Arsalan Sheikh, Syed Mohammad Abu Bakar, Naeem Sahoutara, Abdul Salam Afridi and Samiullah Randhawa were also awarded.

The ceremony was hosted by Saima Shirazi and Shamoon Hashmi and attended by senior journalists, policymakers, diplomats and ambassadors, academics, think tank representatives and leading media professionals.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2017