MUMBAI: 94.3 MY FM, the DBCL Group radio station has undertaken to promote Gender Sensitization by supporting the UNFPA-Laadli Media Awards. These awards are based on gender sensitization project called Laadli, which is supported by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The awards are given to different media persons and outfits for promoting the cause of Gender Sensitivity through various media. The Northern regional UNFPA-Laadli Media Awards shall be presented on Thursday the 26th April at Chandigarh.

94.3 MY FM has launched this campaign in cooperation with the NGO-Population First. The campaign is being promoted in Chandigarh, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh through MY FM's 17 radio stations. MY FM stations are making announcements and playing radio spots on Gender Discrimination & Women Empowerment. 94.3 MY FM has also conducted contests relating to theme of gender, girl child and women. The interviews of awardees and the jury members are also being aired.

Thirty one winners have been chosen in different categories from the Northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chattisgarh, and UTs of Chandigarh and Delhi.

The winners in the Electronic Media category are Braj Mohan- Chandigarh, Ravinder Bawa, Natasha Jha, Anureet Sidhu, Suraj and Rajvir-Chandigarh and Jalandhar, TVCs of Draft FCB Ulka, Leo Burnett, and Lowe.

In the Print section, the awards in different journalism categories have gone to Mohammad Atahar (Urdu), Sayyed Asgar Ali (Urdu), Dr Harsh Inder Kaur, an expert freelance contributor, (Punjabi), Aditi Tandon, Tarannum Manjul-Lucknow, Anilesh Mahajan, Gayatri Rajwade, Damayanti Datta, Sushma Verma, Annu Anand, Dayashankar Mishra and Sultan Ahmed.

In addition to the above, there are special awards to be given to Dr Gurmel Chahel for his telefilm, Dheeyan Maro Na, Avinash for his web initiative, Betiyon Ka Blog, Sandhya Raman, for her conceptualization of the multi-media performance, Mythologies Retold, and Afsana Rashid of Etalaat, J & K, for the best reporting in adverse conditions.

The "Jury Nominated" awards in theatre are Dr Gurcharan's Neon Jarh (Punjabi), Raman Mittal's street play, Kiran (Punjabi), Sandhya Deep's Teesra Machan, and Shubha's Ek Nayi Shuruat.

The awardees have been judged by an eminent panel of judges from various creative fields. The Jury comprised the following people : Shivjeet Kullar (Advertising), Anuja Chauhan Alva (Advertising, JWT ), Nawed Akhter (Advertising, Shop Communications), M K Raina (theatre), Neelam Mansingh (theatre, Chandigarh), Lalit Pokharia (theatre, Lucknow), SM Kulsreshtha (theatre), G S Chani (theatre and films, Chandigarh), Abhijit Sarkar (media man, Sahara), H K Dua (Tribune), Rahul Dev (Veteran journalist), Usha Rai (veteran journalist), Farhat Ehsas (veteran journalist, Urdu), Salma Sultan (News reader, media person), and Raji Srivastava (IAS officer handling gender issues, Chandigarh).

Says, Harrish M. Bhatia, Business Head, 94.3 MY FM, "We are happy to offer Gender Sensitivity Laadli Awards Campaign through a strong network across 7 states and 17 stations. Such initiatives help in making the listeners aware of the pressing need to end gender discrimination in all forms. We want to offer listeners more and more in terms of great music and bits of valuable information that can enlighten them about important social issues."