Asian Media Awards 2014 – Our nomination and full shortlists

September 30 2014

It’s the second year of Asian Media Awards and the full shortlists were announced last night…

IT’S FAST becoming one of the events on the Asian media calendar.

And we’re not just saying that because we have been nominated.

Okay, maybe we are…

It’s hard to be absolutely objective about this when you have a small stake in its ultimate outcome.

But let’s put that aside for a moment and just consider it as a matter of record.

Last night, the Asian Media Awards shortlists were unveiled at the ITV Studios on the South Bank in London – www.asianculturevulture.com has been nominated in the blog and commentary category alongside – Look! A Singh! Priya Mulji’s Blog and Therednotebook.co.uk.

Britain’s longest serving MP Keith Vaz, who represents Leicester East, and prominent newspaper commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (pictured above) lent their words of support and stressed how important it was to have a strong and active Asian media in the UK.

www.asianculturevulture.com has more than one contributor and the nomination we believe recognises the role played by the site as a collective entity and the fact that it is only just over a year old.

The full list of nominees in other categories is below but includes many folks we’ve worked with in the past and still have some association with – from Eastern Eye* to Sunny & Shay.

Sunny is our film columnist, as well as being a broadcaster for the BBC, along with his wife, Shay.

The London Indian Film Festival is nominated in the live event category.

www.asianculturevulture.com was among the sponsors this year and made this video about the film we helped to ‘present’ at the festival.

The competition for this particular category is very fierce and includes two plays, both of which we have covered and found hugely incisive and important.

The ensemble “Nirbhaya” is the play about the Delhi student who was raped on a bus more than two years ago and triggered a worldwide outpouring of anger and dismay.

Written by South African Yael Farber, and performed by a cast of actors who have actually experienced abuse themselves, it is a very powerful and arresting work and has made an enormous contribution to the debate about equality, patriarchy and violence, not just in India, but globally.

Rani Moorthy’s “States of Verbal Undress” is a dramatic intervention in the continuing debate about immigration in the UK and makes the powerful assertion that we all have more in common than we might think.

At the end of the day, you make your own judgements about this – or for that matter any one of the myriad award events there are on the ‘Asian circuit’.

www.asianculturevulture.com wishes all the nominees well – a strong and vibrant Asian media is good for Britain and good for the community at large and you – the reader and consumer.

Your support and interest is vital to our long term sustainability and success – and choice and variety can be important components of that.

We can all only get bigger and stronger and be better able to serve you with that interest and support.

Sailesh Ram, founder and editor www.asianculturevulture.com (*Sailesh was editor of Eastern Eye 2009-2012).

Pictures: Saty Singh – Studio 4 Photography (except bottom two)

Asif Zubairy, ITV commissioning editor entertainment, said: 'It’s an achievement in itself to be nominated for an award tonight and I congratulate all nominees from online, print, internet bloggers, PR experts as well as old school media like radio and TV whether you win or not.Being successful in the media requires creativity, dedication and - in my experience - a lot of long hours.
In focusing on doing the best job possible, it’s easy to get consumed by the ideas, the look and sound of what you’re working on and the effect it has on the public so I’d just ask everyone in this room to remind the next generation of media superstars of their roots: they’re not just media superstars, they’re Asian media superstars'.

The Full Shortlists (In Alphabetical Order):

Journalist of the Year
Anushka Asthana (Sky News)
Shekhar Bhatia (Evening Standard)
Sangita Myska (BBC Radio 4)
Asjad Nazir (Eastern Eye)
Catrin Nye (BBC Asian Network)
Abul Taher (Mail on Sunday)

Best Investigation
A Family Without A Child (BBC Radio 4)
My Brother The Terrorist (Grace Productions)
Ross Kemp: Extreme World India (Freshwater Films for Sky 1)
The Detained (BBC Asian Network)
Three Pounds In My Pocket (BBC Radio 4)

Outstanding Young Journalist
Anila Dhami
Layla Haidrani
Harpreet Kaur
Rahil Sheikh

Keith Vaz MP

TV Report of the Year
100 Years of Bollywood (ITV Central)
Sons of Empire: First World War Commemoration (ITV Meridian)
Why Muslim Women Choose To Wear The Veil (Channel 4)

Publication of the Year
Asian Lite
Asian Today
Asian Wealth
Asian World
Eastern Eye

Best Blog & Commentary
asianculturevulture.com
Look! A Singh!
Priya Mulji’s Blog
Therednotebook.co.uk

Best Website
BizAsiaLive.com
DesiBlitz.com
SimplyBhangra.com
UKAsiaOnline.com

Umbreen Ali, Asian Media Awards manager, introduces the speakers

TV Channel of the Year
ARY
GEO
Star Plus
Zee TV

Radio Station of the Year
Asian Star 101.6fm
BBC Asian Network
Sunrise London

Regional Radio Station of the Year
AwazFM Glasgow
Asian Star 101.6fm
Sabras Radio
Sunrise Yorkshire

Just before the ceremony got under way

Media Agency of the Year
Curzon PR
Here&Now365
Media Moguls
Media Reach
Spritz Creative

Media Professional of the Year
Farzana Baduel
Tony Gill
Natasha Mudhar
Nisha Sahdev

Best Live Event
London Indian Film Festival
Nirbhaya (Ensemble)
Paul Chowdhry ‘PC’s Worlds’
States of Verbal Undress (RASA)

To be announced Individual Awards
Best Video Channel
Best Social and Charitable Campaign
The Sophiya Haque Services to British Television
Media Personality of the Year
Outstanding Contribution to Media

The Asian Media Awards take place at the Hilton Deansgate Manchester on 28 October 2014. The Asian Media Awards 2014 is supported by Asons Solicitors, University of Salford, Hilton Hotels, Manchester Metropolitan University, Routes into Languages, ITV, Mediacom, Press Association Training, Supreme Dream, Cleartwo, Karma Foods, AMT Lawyers & Studio 4 Photography.

For more information about the Asian Media Awards please see www.asianmediaawards.com