By Editors
Members of the Network of Women in Media, India, were recognised for their work at the 19th edition of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards for the year 2023. The awards were presented by President of India Droupadi Murmu on March 19, 2025, at New Delhi. A total of 27 journalists won the awards for their contributions in print, digital and broadcast journalism across 13 categories, including investigative journalism, sports, politics and government, books, feature writing and regional languages.
NWMI awardees:
*Jisha Elizabeth
Award category: Ramnath Goenka Excellence Award in the Regional Languages category (print/digital)
Jisha Elizabeth won the award for her chilling story in Madhyamam on how Thailand-based human traffickers recruited three Indian youths. Transported to Myanmar by cybercrime gangs, the youths were forced to work as scammers, subjected to brutal torture and witnessed horrific acts of violence against their fellow workers.
Story links:
English version: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
*Somita Pal (joint winner with Jeet Mashru)
Award category: Ramnath Goenka Excellence Award in the Prakash Kardaley Memorial Award for Civic Journalism category
Somita Pal and Jeet Mashru won the award for their story in Hindustan Times on how a shortage in BMC-run hospitals in Mumbai forced patients to buy even basic supplies from pharmacies outside. Their impactful story — and a subsequent government probe — led to the civic body introducing a new ‘Zero Prescription Policy’.
Story link:
Patients suffer as BMC fails to approve bulk supplies
*Maitri Porecha
Award category: Ramnath Goenka Excellence Award for Reporting on Politics and Government in the print category
Maitri Porecha won the award for her detailed accounts after the Balasore train tragedy — from the heart-wrenching tale of how Aadhaar was used to identify a patient to how DNA testing for over 50 bodies had been hit due to non-retrieval of proper samples, published in The Hindu.
Story links:
Odisha train accident | The trauma after a tragedy on tracks
Congratulations, Jisha, Somita and Maitri!
