Bol’s Fiza Akbar wins Current Affairs Anchor of the Year award

KARACHI: BOL Media Group anchor Fiza Akbar Khan bagged the Current Affairs Anchor of the Year 2021 (female) award.

Fiza Akbar, ‘Aesay Nahi Chalay Ga’ programme host, won the award in the category ‘The People’s Choice Awards 2021’ in the ninth AGAHI Awards held on Friday in Islamabad.

Fiza said that she was able to secure the award because of her mother’s prayers. She also thanked Bol Media Group management for supporting her and letting her speak openly on various issues.

70 journalists from across Pakistan reporting in print, television, radio, and online mediums received awards for journalist of the year in their respective fields.

More than 3,000 journalists submitted their work in more than 70 categories. The call for submissions were open from August till November 2021 and a jury consisting of national and international experts evaluated the stories on pre-definite criteria. The criteria for evaluation were developed by AGAHI in line with the Media Development Indicators of the UNESCO and in collaboration with the Center for Internet and Media Ethics.

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The awards were divided into three distinct sections, i) People’s Choice, a series of awards selected through public voting on the AGAHI Awards website and through direct short messaging services. ii) Founders’ Choice, a collection of awards selected by the Founders of AGAHI Awards, identifying the new trends and developments in the media industry, and iii) Jury Selection, submissions made by journalists and evaluated by a panel of national and international jury consisting of academicians, researchers, industry experts and development professionals on a predefined evaluation criteria.

The AGAHI Awards were jointly organised by AGAHI and Mishal Pakistan in collaboration with journalists’ associations, academic institutions, think tanks and private sector organisations. The AGAHI Awards are the annual event in Pakistan to benchmark journalism excellence in the country, recognising courage and commitment and showcasing outstanding contributions of journalists from across the country.

Over the years, the winners have produced work, often in the face of political and economic pressures sustaining public trust in the media impacting the lives of people all over the country, read a press release issued by AGAHI.

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Amir Jahangir, Co-founder AGAHI Awards and CEO Mishal said, “The AGAHI Awards aim to encourage fact-based, data-driven news reporting and investigative journalism in Pakistan. The AGAHI Awards celebrates content-centric to human interest and impact-driven journalism in the country”.