Nepal’s Kamana Publication Group (KPG) and the Nepal chapter of the International Press Institute (IPI) announced they will award this year’s “Bhusan Journalism Award” to ten conflict-affected journalists and their families as a token of assistance.
The award carries a purse of Rs 100,000 (US$ 1,500), which will be distributed equally among the ten journalists. The sum was handed over by the KPG to the “Basket Fund” set up by the IPI Nepal chapter to help Nepali journalists and their families who were victims of the ongoing conflict. The Kamana Publication was asked by the IPI Nepal chapter to select the winners of the award “on the basis of the degree to which the journalists have been affected by the conflict, their financial situation and their contributions to journalism.”
The families of journalists Gyanendra Khadka and Raj Kumar KC were selected as winners of this year’s award: Khadka of Sindhupalchowk was killed by Maoist rebels while Raj Kumar KC of Ramechhap was killed during security operations.
Other journalists who won the award are: Bishnu Devkota (Dolpa), Chitra Bahadur Singh (Dailekh), Sama Thapa (Kailali), Kamal Mishra (Jhapa), Bhoj Raj Bhat (Kathmandu), Durga Thapa (Surkhet), Diwaker Bagchand (Kanchanpur) and K B Jumli (Jumla). All of them were abducted or imprisoned during the conflict.