Journalists Greeshma Kuthar and Ritika Chopra have been declared the winners of Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Women Mediaperson for the year 2024. The Media Foundation made the announcement on Thursday, March 14. The award ceremony is scheduled to be held on March 15. 

The journalists were selected by a jury comprising senior journalist and columnist Radhika Ramaseshan (Chair), journalist and author Mariyam Alavi and Richard Mahapatra, the managing editor of ‘Down to Earth’ magazine.

Greeshma Kuthar, an independent journalist and an advocate from Tamil Nadu has extensively covered the violence in Manipur, which broke out in May 2023. At least 175 people were officially declared dead and more than 60,000 were displaced in the ethnic conflict. She has also written extensively on the institutionalisation of Hindutva.

Ritika Chopra has been a journalist for the past 17 years and has been reporting widely on politics and government policy. Currently, she is the Chief of National Bureau (Govt) and National Education Editor with The Indian Express. She has received the Vienna-based International Press Institute's India Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2022 and the Laadli Media Award in 2018.

The award ceremony will be held at CD Deshmukh Hall in India International Centre, Delhi, and will be followed by the BG Verghese Memorial Lecture to be delivered by renowned journalist TN Ninan on ‘Work and Wages: Old Challenges in the Age of Automation and AI’.

Instituted in 1982, the prestigious annual award named after freedom fighter and community reformer Chameli Devi Jain, is administered by the Media Foundation. It recognises women mediapersons in India who have made an impact with their reporting on themes such as social development, politics, equity, gender justice, health, war and conflict, consumer values, and democratic rights. 

Last year, The News Minute’s editor-in-chief Dhanya Rajendran received the award.