2014

Barbara Adams Investigative Journalism Award
Barbara Adams Investigative Journalism Award was instituted on May 16, 2013 by the Barbara Peace Foundation Nepal with the goal of promoting good governance and democratic norms and values in the Nepali society, and make professional journalism dignified through the medium of investigative journalism. The specific objectives of the award are:

  1. Development of quality journalism
  2. To have good governance prevail
  3. A social campaign for building a corruption-free society
  4. To encourage investigative journalism

The annual award is operated jointly by the Barbara Peace Foundation Nepal and the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at the Tribhuvan University. The prize money of Rs 100,001 is obtained from the interest received from the principal amount of the endowment fund of Rupees Ten lakhs (US $ 10,000) set up by Barbara Adams for the award.

Surendra Poudel, correspondent of the Nagarik Daily, became the first recipient of the award in 2013 for his stories exposing irregularities in a government body. After its first edition, the award saw the hiatus of two years due to Barbara’s death and the earthquake. This year (2016), Krishna Gyawali, correspondent of the Kantipur Daily newspaper, has been selected as the award recipient for his reports exposing malpractices and corruption in the governance of medical education system in Nepal. A total of thirty-seven journalists—from print, radio, television, and online media—had applied for the award.

A judge committee is responsible for selecting the winner from among the applicants. The award’s selection process involves three rounds of meetings of the Board of Directors of the Foundation including solicitation of the assistance of the Department Journalism and Mass Communication at the Tribhuvan University to ensure that the process is fair, inclusive and transparent.