Laadli Awards 2023: 'Gaon Connection' gets Double Honor

• 25 Oct 2023

Why In News?

Recently, ‘Gaon Connection’ has been given double honor in the 13th Laadli Media and Advertising Awards organized for gender sensitivity in Jaipur by ‘Population First’, a prestigious organization working in the field of gender equality.

Key Points:

• Two ground reports from Uttar Pradesh documenting crimes against Dalit girls have been honoured at the Laadli Awards 2023. Both ground reports were awarded in the categories of English Investigative Story and Web Investigative Story respectively.
• The story titled '2 murders, 22 months (about 2 years), 1 court proceeding-families of deceased Dalit cousins in Unnao still awaiting justice', reported by Manvendra Singh and published on December 11, 2022, won the award under the category 'Hindi: Web – Investigative Story'.
• The story was a crime investigation in which three minor Dalit girls were allegedly poisoned in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao in 2021. Two of them died, while one survived.
• The story was part of a 10-part series of 'Gaon Connection' on 10 themes to mark the 10th anniversary of India's largest rural communication and insights platform.
• Despite the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, the family of two minor girls is still awaiting justice.
• The second story 'Accused out on bail for 8 years' published on October 7, 2022; 'Date-to-date for the minor victim's family in the Badaun gang-rape-murder case' won the award under the category 'English: Investigative Story'. It was reported by Shivani Gupta and Abhishek Verma (Cameraperson).
• The story was part of a series called 'Two Cursed' launched by Gaon Connection last year to assess the lives of rape victim's years after the crime took place.
• The 'Laadli Media Awards' is an initiative of Mumbai-based social impact organization Population First, supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and has been working for the past two decades to promote gender sensitization in the media across the country.
• At the 13th edition of the awards ceremony, a total of 87 journalists were awarded the Laadli Media Advertising Award for gender sensitivity, while another 31 received jury commendation certificates. More than 850 entries were received in 13 languages for the awards on gender sensitization from across the country.