In a departure from its annual three-day conventions SAJA has chosen to hold an awards ceremony and scholarship gala at the neo-classical Low Library at Columbia University, home to the prestigious Pulitzer awards.
The gala, on Saturday, will honor the best journalism from the South Asian diaspora and journalists reporting on the region. The evening will also include a reception followed by a panel discussion on the future of journalism led by South Asian media pioneers Raju Narisetti, managing editor, The Washington Post; Madhulika Sikka, executive producer, NPR's “Morning Edition”; and Jai Singh, managing editor, The Huffington Post.Instead of an annual convention, SAJA Comes to You has been the focus of the organization this year in a bid to reach as many members as possible.
“But we didn’t want to shortchange the members by not having an event at all,” said Anusha Shrivastava, vice president of SAJA, explaining the switch to a one-night gala instead.
Workshops and panel discussions, part of the SAJA Comes to You initiative, have made it to Boston, Chicago and New Jersey so far, and are expected to get to Toronto and the Bay Area in the coming months.
“A lot of our members said they were unable to participate in SAJA events” because the convention was in New York city, Shrivastava said. “The events are held in cities where we have members, if we hear from them, we’re happy to go to them,” she added.
The New York gala will be attended by a cross section of print, newswires, radio and broadcast media including The Washington Post, Bloomberg and India Abroad. Guests will dine on Indian cuisine.
-- By Mamta Badkar
