MAHARASHTRA, India – The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Program (CCP) has once again joined forces with The Indian Express Group to honor local journalists that demonstrate excellence in HIV/AIDS reporting in Marathi and English.

Through its Ramnath Goenka Foundation, Indian Express sponsors an annual awards event to recognize print and broadcast journalists in a number of categories. As part of these awards, in 2006, the new HIV/AIDS category for Excellence in English and Marathi print reporting was announced.

Following a rigorous selection process, Sadhna Mohan from AIDS Buzz and Shekhar Deshmukh from Loksatta were honoured with the prestigious awards by then President Abdul Kalam on July 16, 2007. The two award winners, from this newly instituted category, attended the three-week Leadership in Strategic Health Communication Workshop at CCP in Baltimore, USA, in June 2007.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs implements strategic HIV/AIDS communication programs in Maharashtra in collaboration with Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society, Mumbai District AIDS Control Society and Avert Society. These programs are supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The HIV/AIDS awards recognize excellence for both English and Marathi print reporting. The winning article or series in a newspaper or magazine will be judged by the following criteria:

• Making an exceptional contribution to public awareness and understanding of HIV/AIDS issues.
• Being a substantive work that covers a story comprehensively and raises public consciousness and awareness about HIV/AIDS issues.
• Demonstrating general excellence, quality of writing, and coverage that most accurately, objectively, and sensitively portrays HIV/AIDS and leads to a greater awareness and understanding of HIV/AIDS issues.
• Using appropriate language, and taking into consideration gender sensitivity, and ethical and human rights concerns.

The two award winners, one each from the English and Marathi press, will be nominated to attend the three-week Leadership in Strategic Health Communication Workshop at CCP in Baltimore, USA in June 2009. Information about the 2009 workshop will be posted when it becomes available, but the program will be similar to the upcoming workshop in June 2008.

An independent panel of distinguished journalists and experts will judge the entries. Articles must have been written between April 1, 2006 and December 31, 2007. The deadline for entries is April 30, 2008.

The partnership and the award with the Indian Express Group were first established under a global program, Health Communication Partnership (HCP), based at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs. For more information on global HIV/AIDS programs of CCP, please visit the website at www.jhuccp.org

For more information on the awards, please contact:

Ms. Utsah Kohli
The Express Group
Express Building, 9 & 10
Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi-110002, India
Tel: 011-23702100 - 07
Email: rngf@expressindia.com