Indian Catholic journalist gets international award
New Delhi, 02 July 2013: Geneva-based International Christian Organization of the
Media (ICOM) has chosen an Indian Catholic journalist for the Titus Brandma award
for journalism.
Anto Akkara, who won the award, works with international media
covering South Asia. Accrording to UCA News the ward will be conferred on him at the
World Media and Journalism Congress to be held at Panama city in October.
“The
jury took the decision considering your contribution in defending human rights and
speaking up for the oppressed in your journalistic work in South Asia,” the ICOM said
in its communication to Akkara.
“By deciding to confer this prestigious honor,
the jury acknowledges the stellar role you have played in highlighting the gross denial
of fundamental rights and freedom of religion in the Kandhamal jungles of Orissa,”
it added.
The triennial award has been instituted in memory of Blessed Titus
Brandsma, a Dutch journalist and Carmelite priest who died in 1942 at the Dachau concentration
camp in Germany.
After masters in English literature from St. Thomas College
Thrissur, Akkara did law from Delhi University and has been working for over two decades
with international media as foreign correspondent.
The journalist author, who
has won several media awards, has penned a book on Kandhamal riots titled 'Kandhamal
- a blot on Indian Secularism.'
Akkara’s latest book on Kandhamal ‘Early Christians
of 21st Century’ was released in February 2013 at Velankanni. Source: UCAN