Chennai, India | 29th January 2021: The PoleStar Foundation, an independent Trust established in 1998 to recognise Excellence in Journalism in India, conducted the first-ever virtual 22nd Annual PoleStar Awards on the evening of 28th January, 2021. The Chief Guest of the event was Mr. Ronnie Screwvala, Chairman and Co-founder – upGrad and Founder Trustee – Swades Foundation. This year, the 22nd Annual PoleStar Awards gave the traditional keynote a miss and instead lightened up the proceedings with a Fireside Chat between Mr. Ronnie Screwvala and Mr. Arun Jain, Founder of Polaris, Chairman and Managing Director of Intellect Design Arena, and Founder of the PoleStar Foundation and of Mission Samriddhi; on the topic ‘Unboxing Notions: Business, Technology and Social Impact’ moderated by Mr. Ram Pappu, Program Director, Mission Samriddhi. The awards ceremony was attended by eminent media personalities, leaders from the industry and journalism students from across the country.
The Annual PoleStar Awards has been honouring exemplary work of journalists in the categories of Best Feature in Business Journalism, Best Feature in Technology Journalism and Best Good News Feature and Jury Special Mention. The Technology & Business journalism awards consist of a trophy, a citation and a cash prize of Rs 2 Lakhs. The Best Good News Feature and Jury Special Mention, includes a trophy, a citation and a cash prize of Rs 1 Lakh. The tradition of celebrating and honouring exceptional journalism, year on year, for over two decades, makes PoleStar not just an initiative, but an institution.
The Winners of the 22nd Annual PoleStar Awards are:
Best Feature in Business Journalism
Article: Not open and shut: India’s gigafactory ambitions have three doors to get through
Publication: The Ken
Journalist: Olina Banerji (Staff Writer at The Ken)
Best Feature in Technology Journalism
Article: Reliance Jio’s 5G push to be India’s answer to Huawei
Publication: The Ken
Journalist: Pratap Vikram Singh (Staff writer at The Ken)
Best Good News Feature
Article: In Michelin- tar chef Vikas Khanna’s mission to feed millions in India, failure is not an option
Publication: YourStory Media
Journalist: Tenzin Pema (Editor at YourStory Media)
Jury Special Mention
Article: How A Delhi Engineer Dug Out Dara Shikoh’s Grave, The Brother Aurangzeb Beheaded!
Publication: Outlook
Journalist: Jeevan Prakash Sharma (Senior Assistant Editor at Outlook Magazine)
This year, the Foundation received 464 nominations (Business- 179, Technology -109 and Good News- 176) from journalists across India. The entries were evaluated by a panel of esteemed jury members from the corporate world and academia.
The jury panel included: Mr. Abhay Gupte, MD & CEO, Manipal Technologies Ltd.; Mr. David Appasamy, Head – Brand & Strategy, Social Beat; Dr. Ashok Korwar, Growth Consultant and CEO Coach; Ms. Aruna Rao, Advisor, Technology Strategy, Kotak Mahindra Bank; Mr. Sriram Sivaram, Joint Managing Director, Madras Engineering Industries (P) Ltd.; Mr. Mukesh Sharma, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Menterra, and Ms. Vijayalakshmi Rao, Business Advisor and Mentor.
