Human Rights and Religious Freedom-HRRF Journalism Awards seeks outstanding stories exploring the questions of human rights and the existing reality of religious minorities and marginalized communities in India. The Award honors the in-depth and ground-breaking reporting on pressing issues about Indian minorities and marginalized communities. HRRF Journalism grant is also a similar program that the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), a Washington DC-based advocacy group, is organizing.

The HRRF Journalism grant supports early and mid-career journalists to follow independent reporting projects that cover key barriers confronting minorities and marginalized communities in India.

HRRF’s goal is to support, identify, and highlight stories that are focusing the challenges faced by the communities undergoing immense persecution.

The winning stories of the HRRF Journalism Award should reflect the high reporting standards. The selection committee will shortlist the entrants based on the relevance of their work, explore challenge misconceptions, new angles on familiar topics, and counter stereotypes about marginalized communities.

About IAMC

IAMC is a US-based advocacy organization of Indian American Muslims registered in Washington, D.C., in 2002. It is a tax-exempt non-profit organization that has chapters across the country with thousands of members. IAMC follows these objectives in its activities:

• Pluralism, Tolerance, and Respect
• Interfaith and Inter-community Understanding
• Education and Awareness
• Alliances and Relationships
• Responsible Voice

Key Details

Open for Entries: August 09, 2023

Closed for Entries: September 10, 2023

Awards Ceremony Date:  October 14, 2023

Awards Ceremony Place: Plano Event Center in Plano, Texas, U.S.

Organizer: Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC)

Eligible Nations: All

Categories and Prize Amount of the HRRF Journalism Awards

The HRRF Journalism Award categories for 2023 are as follows:

• Best Text Reporting: This category will honor the best text reportage of 1000 words or longer on under-reported or unreported human rights and religious freedom issues in India. Journalists can send a single or series of stories on the same issue. This category carries a cash prize of INR 50,000 and a plaque.

• Best Photo Story: This category honors breaking news photography on India’s human rights and religious freedom issues. Applicants cannot submit single photos in this category; they should submit a piece with at least three to ten photographs. The images must have captions. This category contains a cash prize of INR 50,000 plus a plaque.
• Best Video Story: If you have the best video report on India’s human rights and religious freedom challenges, you may apply for the HRRF Journalism Awards category. The video story should be between 4 minutes and 25 minutes.  This category carries a cash prize of INR 50,000 and a plaque.
• HRRF Young Journalist of the Year Award: The HRRF Young Journalist of the Year Award praises a young journalist of 30 years old or younger as of July 31, 2023, in any medium, including text, photo, video, or multimedia. Applicants who have contributed substantially to Indian journalism during 2022 advocating human rights and religious freedom can apply for this category. Entrants can submit three to five best stories in any media format.  This Award comprises a cash prize of INR 50,000 plus a plaque.

• HRRF Best Media Organization Award: This award category recognizes independent media organizations, such as news website, newspaper, or a magazine, that exhibits ethical, moral, or physical courage in the pursuit of bringing truth to the masses.The winning organization should use media to address social, cultural, political, and economic issues concerning Indian minorities and marginalized communities.Organizations don’t require submissions for this category. The awards committee will recommend and select the news organizations and announce the winner during the virtual award ceremony. This Award comprises a cash prize of INR 100,000 and a plaque. In the case of teamwork, the winners will receive an equal share.

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Requirements and Criteria

All entrants and submissions should meet the following requirements:

• The HRRF Journalism Award is open to journalists of any nationality with significant reports on India’s human rights and religious freedom issues.
• Only stories written in English are eligible for the Award. However, entrants can submit videos in the video category in any language as long as they have English
• The entrants should have published their stories in local, regional, national, or international newspapers, online and print magazines, or news websites. Personal blog stories are not eligible for the Award.
• Each category can have a single- or multi-author.
• HRRF Journalism Awards invite entries published between March 1, 2022, to July 31, 2023.
• Entrants can apply for awards in multiple categories.
• Journalists can submit a single or a published series of reports on the same topic or issue.
• The selection committee will evaluate all submitted works based on the overall merit of the submission. The committee not only judges the submissions on the quality of reporting but also on investigative effort, resourcefulness, accuracy, informational value, and contribution to the overall understanding of the issue.
• Submission is completely free of charge.

How to Apply for the HRRG Journalism Awards?

Entrant can submit their entries through the online platform. Please review all requirements for each category before submitting an entry. Remember that requirements vary depending on each category, and entrants cannot make corrections after submitting.

Submit Now

Do you have any questions yet? Please enter the HRRF Journalism Awards website for detailed information.

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