Sushmita Among Winners at 2026 Covering Climate Now Journalism Awards
Sushmita, independent journalist and member of the Network of Women in Media, India, was among winners at the 2026 Covering Climate Now Journalism Awards. She was part of the team at the Earth Journalism Network which won the award in the category, Large Projects & Collaborations, for their project, Dark Side of the Boom.
Dark Side of the Boom looked at how “data centers propping up the digital revolution — artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cryptocurrency, cyber scamming — depend on massive quantities of energy and water, often at the expense of climate-vulnerable communities that have little of either to spare.” The project led by Sam Schramski involved the collaboration of 14 newsrooms in 11 countries, led by Internews’s Earth Journalism Network and had journalists “set out all across Asia to explore what exactly these data centers mean for daily life and the environment.”
The project was also recognised at the SOPA 2026 Awards for Editorial Excellence and Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism on Asia.
The Large Projects & Collaborations category is for “work that constituted a major, dedicated undertaking for the newsrooms and journalists involved — work executed at a scale well beyond the one or several stories that judges considered in other categories.” Organisers CCNow said they received more than 1,200 entries, from journalists in dozens of countries, across 16 categories.
Congratulations, Sushmita!
