We are happy to announce that The Quint’s Meenakshy Sasikumar and Mythreyee Ramesh have won the prestigious Laadli Media awards on Saturday, 21 October. Meanwhile, The Quint's Himanshi Dahiya received a jury appreciation citation.
Mythreyee Ramesh has won for the video story, 'Not Mother’s Fault, but Pandemic's': Girls in Mumbai Slum Want To Study.
By 2021, data from think tanks and government agencies had pointed out how the pandemic disrupted education, and how female students suffered more, with their dreams taking a backseat. Research also showed that many of them might not return to classes ever again. Through her story, 'Not Mother’s Fault, but Pandemic's': Girls in Mumbai Slum Want To Study, Mythreyee Ramesh put faces to the data.
In Mumbai's Govandi, she met eight-year-old Falak Shah, who spoke about the pain of watching her friends go to school every morning when she couldn't. She also met Tabassum Shaikh, who was forced to become a COVID caretaker when she dropped out of school. As an impact of Mythreyee's story, Tabassum is now pursuing nursing diploma, and Falak is back in school.
Meenakshy Sasikumar received the award for Consistent Writing on Women Issues.
Through her story, Unmarried Women Denied Basic Vaginal Tests: Will SC Ruling End Discrimination? she tells a story about how hospitals and medical professionals refuse necessary vaginal tests like pap smears to women, solely because they're unmarried.
Moreover, Meenakshy Sasikumar's stories, Shraddha Walkar Murder: Insensitive Jokes & Memes Are Part of the Problem, and Naming Survivor, Claiming Victimhood: Vijay Babu's Plot To Undo #MeToo Movement were also mentioned.
Within the former, she explores how Malayalam film industry actor-producer Vijay Babu publicly outed a survivor who accused him of sexual assault, and how it points to a larger problem of patriarchy in the industry.
In the latter, Meenakshy analysed how after the brutal murder of Shraddha Walkar in Delhi last year, the internet was filled 'fridge' memes to Islamophobic 'jokes', which dehumanised the victim, communalised the incident, and drove the focus away from the reality of intimate partner violence.
Himanshi Dahiya multimedia immersive story, 'Are We Victims or Criminals?’ Child Brides of Gujarat Fight for Nutrition brought to light challenges faced by child brides', including early pregnancies and limited access to healthcare.
It explored the Mukhyamantri Matrushakti Yojana (MMY) and its exclusionary policies, highlighting the urgent need for change and questions the implementation of prohibitory acts against chil marriages.
The ceremony for the 13th edition of the Laadli Media and Advertising Awards was held at the Rajasthan International Centre in Jaipur on Saturday, 21 October. It was also broadcast on YouTube.
Laadli, the media advocacy campaign of Population First, has been giving Laadli Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity (LMAAGS) for gender sensitive journalism since 2007.
The awards are supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Lok Samwad Sansthan.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)