Five India Currents journalists received top awards at the 47th San Francisco Press Club gala held on December 4 this year at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in downtown San Francisco. Journalists Sree Sripathy, Ankita Mukhopadhyay, Tanay Gokhale, Ashir Rao, and Adi Anand were among the winners announced from a record-breaking 798 entries this year.
Photojournalist Sree Sripathy won First Place for Digital Media, Photography/Photo Series for “We Belong,” a visual exploration highlighting the different experiences of South Asian identity through through portraits and interviews with Bay Area South Asians. Photos from the series are currently on exhibition in the San Jose Public Library system. She also won Second Place for Digital Media, Photography/Feature for her feature, ‘A San Francisco Hindu Talks Lord Krishna, Queer Identity & His Love of Garba-Raas.’ The story profiled queer and devout Hindu Sarang Bhatt on his sexual identity, Indian culture, and his ‘garba is life’ mentality. Both projects were published in India Currents as part of Sripathy’s CatchLight Visual Journalism Fellowship.
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‘Cricket Fever,’ our nod to the burgeoning popularity of cricket in the U.S., drew Second Place wins in the Digital Media, Columns-Sport category for Tanay Gokhale, Ashir Rao, and Adi Anand. Tanay Gokhale, India Currents Community Reporter & California Local News Fellow won for his coverage of a World Cup cricket watch party, ‘The Winners At An India v Pakistan World Cup Watch Party In Berkeley? Cricket Fans!’ The two other winners in the category were high schoolers and IC youth writers mentored by India Currents editors. Ashir Rao (Los Gatos High School) covered the history of cricket’s decline in America in ‘Along With Tea, Americans Dumped Cricket After Independence,’ while Adi Anand, a high school junior) addressed its revival in the U.S. in ‘Has Major League Cricket Finally Arrived In The USA?‘
Ankita Mukhopaydyay received Third Place in Digital Media, Columns-News/Political for coverage of King Charles’s coronation, (Why South Asians Aren’t Impressed By King Charles III’s Coronation); her visit to Kartarpur Sahib, a Sikh gurdwara in Pakistan, (Ankita Makes A Pilgrimage To Kartarpur Sahib – A Sikh Gurdwara In Pakistan); and the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, (Will The Ram Mandir Consecration End Up Dividing, Not Uniting India?). The judges remarked on her ‘brave reporting that illuminates and challenges.’
The Press Club also recognized John King who retired in October from his longtime position as the San Francisco Chronicle’s urban design critic, with a Lifetime Achievement Award.