New Delhi: In a significant development, Kashmir Valley’s young eminent journalist and Mediapreneur Bilal Bashir Bhat bagged the prestigious exchange4media under Urdu Journalism 40 under 40 awards.
Among the 200 entries, 40 Urdu Journalists were declared winners following a rigorous jury process. The list includes editors, reporters, anchors, journalists, digital media professionals, videographers, news producers & video editors in the Urdu domain.
This was the first of its kind award ceremony for Urdu Journalists of the country which saw the presence of former Chief Election Commissioner SY. Quraishi, Dr. Annurag Batra, Chairman Exchange4Media, Dr (Prof) Sheikh Aquil Ahmad, Director NCPUL, Ambreen Khan, Media Marketing Expert, Bushra Khanum, Prof. Farhat Basir Khan, Dr Harish Bhalla Culture Czar & Social Crusader, Dr Khalid Raza Khan, Khurshid Rabbany, Moien Shadab, Prof. (Dr.) Pramod Kumar, HOD, Department of Urdu Journalism, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, Suman Verma, CMO, Hamdard, Zafar Sareshwala, Former Chancellor Maulana Azad National Urdu University and others.
The Award ceremony occurred during the e4m Jashn-e-Sahafat- an event dedicated to honoring the outstanding contributions and innovations in Urdu journalism while fostering conversations on its past, present, and future, on Friday at India International Centre New Delhi.
Pertinently, at the final round of judging, which took place on the day of the virtual Jury meeting on 17 June 2023, the theme of Bilal’s representation stressed introducing a vibrant digitalization, artificial intelligence, and better print design in Urdu Journalism to overcome the outdated style for the sake of developing the interest for Urdu Journalism among millions of potential readers for better messaging and understanding.
Pertinently to fulfill the modern demands of Urdu Journalism, under which for the first time in July 2022, Bilal Bashir Bhat introduced QR Coding in Urdu printing Media, through his newspaper Daily Srinagar Jang. This innovative QR Coding enables readers to watch videos, elaborate stories through print editions. Besides, on a regular basis, the said paper publishs off-the-beat full-page features on different subjects with unique designs to draw the attention of the netizens, particularly the youth.
Daily Srinagar Jang, Associate Editor Rameez Makhdoomi, and Ajaz Ahmad War accompanied Bilal Bashir Bhat at the award function.
Exchange4Media publishes digital news and opinionated content on activities in the Indian marketing, media and advertising industry. The group also publishes magazines viz., Pitch, Impact, Franchise Plus and Realty Plus targeting niche audiences in the industry.
JURY
Dr. Annurag Batra Chairman and Editor-in-chief BW BusinessWorld and Founder, of exchange4media, Dr. Rakhshanda Jalil Writer, Translator, Literary Historian, Shahid Siddiqui Editor Nai Dunia, Muzaffar Ali, Filmmaker, Poet, Zafar Sareshwala, Former Chancellor, MANNU, Yusuf Jameel, Journalist, Columnist & Winner, CPJ International Press Freedom Award, Rajesh Raina Group Editor News18, Raj Babbar Actor and former MP, Dr. Shaikh Aquil Ahmad Director, NCPUL, Ministry of Education, GOI, Mir Alam Ali Zaidi, Journalist, Historian and Writer, Prof. Farhat Basir Khan Author, Strategist, Media Communication and Design Scholar, Suman Varma CMO Hamdard India, and Ambreen Khan Media Marketing Expert.
