UEA academic wins prestigious Journalist of the Year award
By: Communications
Barnie Choudhury, Lecturer in Broadcast and Multimedia Journalism from UEA's School of PPL, won the Journalist of the Year category at this year’s Political & Public Life Awards.
These awards seek to honour outstanding individuals from across public life who have created a positive impact across the preceding year, with previous winners of the same category including Jon Craig and Andrew Marr.
Barnie was recognised on 7 March at the Houses of Parliament for his outstanding work during his time as editor-at-large at the Eastern Eye Newspaper, one of Britain's best known Asian weekly newspapers.
Barnie wanted to thank colleagues at UEA for encouraging him and giving him the space to continue working in frontline journalism. He described the national Political & Public Life Awards 2024 as something he would cherish:
“To be recognised by MPs is a huge honour, and I'm truly humbled. My work at Eastern Eye and the BBC has one thing in common. Journalists must hold power to account, speak unpalatable truths, and we must write that first draft of history without fear or favour as we witness it.
“Kalpesh and Shailesh Solanki, the owners of the Asian Media Group [AMG] – the parent company for Eastern Eye – give me immense freedom, and they encourage our students to work with me on real time stories with real impact.”
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