The famous journalist from India Ravish Kumar is among the five people declared winners of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award 2019. Also called “Asia’s Nobel Prize,” it is the most coveted award in this continent.
Kumar Honored For His Undaunted Courage
The award committee in its tweet while revealing the names of the recipients for this year said that the NDTV journalist has received this honor for his “courage undaunted” while “harnessing journalism to give voice to the voiceless”. Ravish Kumar received this honor for his news show, Prime Time that “deals with real-life, under-reported problems of ordinary people”.
44-year-old Ravish Kumar is the senior executive editor of NDTV India and is one of the most influential TV journalists of India. Ko Swe Win from Myanmar, Raymundo Pujante Cayabyab from the Philippines, Angkhana Neelapaijit from Thailand, and Kim Jong-Ki from South Korea are the other four recipients of the award.
The awards were established in 1957 in the name of former President of Philippine, Ramon Magsaysay who was known for courage, idealism, and integrity. The citation says, “If you have become the voice of the people, you are a journalist.”
These are the five recipients of Asia’s premier prize and highest honor, the 2019 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees. #RamonMagsaysayAward pic.twitter.com/HrLG1qVt6L
— Ramon Magsaysay Award (@MagsaysayAward) August 2, 2019
Awards Given For Selfless Service & Transformative Influence
Every year the most prestigious award in Asia is given to an individual or an organization in the continent who offers selfless service and creates transformative influence on the lives of the people similar to the way beloved Filipino leader did.
In its statement the award committee said, “In electing Ravish Kumar to receive the 2019 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognizes his unfaltering commitment to a professional, ethical journalism of the highest standards; his moral courage in standing up for truth, integrity, and independence; and his principled belief that it is in giving full and respectful voice to the voiceless, in speaking truth bravely yet soberly to power, that journalism fulfills its noblest aims to advance democracy.”
Ravish Kumar will receive the award at a ceremony in Manila on September 9, 2019.
Immensely inspiring to see that @ravishndtv, an Indian Language Journalist, has been chosen for the prestigious #ramanmagsaysayaward. Again : this is an opportunity to root for all the good journalism happening in Indian languages. #RavishKumar #Journalism
— Priyanka Dubey (@writetopd) August 2, 2019
In giving Ravish Kumar the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognised his unfaltering commitment to a professional, ethical journalism of the highest standards; his moral courage in standing up for truth, integrity, and independence. https://t.co/VbQE0v9GE8
— HuffPost India (@HuffPostIndia) August 2, 2019
