PREM BHATIA JOURNALISM AWARDS
Prem Bhatia Journalism Awards
The Prem Bhatia Journalism Awards and Lecture were instituted in 1995 by the Prem Bhatia Memorial Trust to honour the legacy of the legendary former editor of The Tribune.
Mr. Bhatia was an eminent journalist, known for both his incisive political reporting and far-sightedness, as well as his independence of judgement and unfaltering objectivity. The trust instituted two awards — one for Excellence in Political Journalism, and the other for Excellence in Environmental Journalism, to honour his memory.
The awards have been accompanied by the Prem Bhatia Memorial Lecture, delivered by an eminent personality on a topical subject.
In 2024, under an arrangement, the trust handed over its corpus to the Guild. Since 2025, the Editors Guild of India (EGi) has continued the legacy by administering the awards, along with the annual lecture.
Past Winners
- 2026
- Akanksha Kumar
- Pankaj Sekhsaria and Rohini Krishnamurthy
- 2025
- Parth MN
- Jeff Joseph Paul Kadicheeni
- 2021
- Dainik Bhaskar
- Vaishnavi Rathore
- 2020
- Dipankar Ghose
- PARI
- 2019
- Rajdeep Sardesai
- Ishan Kukreti and Sharada Balasubramaniam
- 2018
- Aakar Patel
- Sibi Arasu
- 2017
- Manini Chatterjee
- K. Rajendran
- 2016
- Reji Joseph
- Vaidyanathan Iyer
- 2015
- Suhasini Haider
- Priyanka Kakodkar
- 2014
- Nitin Sethi
- Smita Gupta
- 2013
- Jaideep Hardikar
- Shalini Singh
- 2012
- P. R. Ramesh
- Shalini Singh
- 2011
- Josy Joseph
- Jyotirmoy Dey
- 2010
- Ritu Sareen
- 2009
- Neerja Chowdhury
- 2008
- Nirupama Subramanian
- Keya Acharya
- 2007
- Pallavi Aiyar
- 2006
- Navika Kumar
- 2005
- Varghese K. George
- Jay Mazoomdaar
- 2004
- Palagummi Sainath
- 2003
- Praveen Swamy
- 2002
- Kinshuk Nag
- Bharat Desai
- 1998
- Raj Chengappa
- 1997
- Harish Khare
- This award honours sustained and impactful reporting on environmental issues, climate change, conservation, and ecological sustainability in India.
- The award is open to journalistic work, done in the period January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025, which has had a significant impact on an important issue pertaining to the environment/ climate, either by way of bringing about greater awareness, or by pushing for some impactful action in addressing that issue. The work should have been consistent and sustained over time.
- The award will be selected by a three-member jury. The selection will be made from the pool of applications submitted to the Guild, including any nominations by the jury and the Guild members as well.
- The award carries a monetary prize of Rs 1,50,000.
- This award recognizes exemplary political journalism that has demonstrated depth, rigour, and impact in covering governance, policy, elections, and democratic institutions in India.
- The award is open to journalistic work, done in the period January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025, which has demonstrated depth, rigour, and impact in covering politics, governance, elections, and democratic institutions in India, either by way of investigative work, raising important questions, or pushing for greater accountability. The work should have been consistent and sustained over time.
- The award will be selected by a three-member jury. The selection will be made from the pool of applications submitted to the Guild, including any nominations by the jury and the Guild members as well.
- The award carries a monetary prize of Rs 1,50,000.