In a colorful gala held on Wednesday night, the young and upcoming journalist Moosa Rasheed of Avas Online grabbed the prestigious award of "Most Promising Journalist Of The Year."
Competing against two other, Rasheed made history on Wednesday when he dedicated his award to the missing journalist of Minivan News, Ahmed Rilwan who was abducted three years ago near his residence.
The festive event held at Dharubaaruge on Wednesday night saw several journalists and reporters take home their awards; apart from the most promising journalist category, awards from various other categories were given.
Journalism Awards is a Maldives Media Council initiated ceremony that debuted in 2013, with the usual host date on May 3 which commemorates the International Press Freedom Day. However due to some unforeseen circumstances the event was pushed to October.
Wednesday night's gala saw the experienced photographer Fayaz Moosa of Sun Online take home the Best Photographer award after competing with colleague Mohamed Afrah and Ahmed Shurau of Avas Online. He was awarded with the prize money and gift hampers of sponsors by Indian High Commissioner Akilesh Mishra.
Aminath Ameena, more famously known as 'Ana' nabbed the Best Video Journalist award. The VTV journalist ascended to stage to receive the award from Information Commissioner Abdul Aziz Jamaal.
Social news category's award went to Asiyath Mohamed Saeed of Mihaaru news, who's proxy to the event; her sister Aminath Mohamed Saeed received the award on behalf of her. The Mihaaru news journalist currently resides in Canada with husband.
Regarded as one of the youngest journalists in Maldivian press and journalism field, Ibrahim Maahil Mohamed of Sun Online took home the award from Business and Economic News category. Currently attending college at Denmark, Mohamed was not present in the event who's award was received by a staff of Sun Online. The award was given by Dhiraagu's Manager of Customer Service Massood Ali.
Court Reporting, legal affairs news category award was won by Muizzu Ibrahim of Mihaaru news after competing against Nazim Hassan of Avas Online. He received the award from Villa College's Rector Ahmed Anwar.
Best journalist in sports category was won by Azzam Alifulhu of Mihaaru news, who was awarded by former Editor of Aafathis News, 'Fairy' Ahmed Zahir. Ali Nafiz of the same news outlet, grabbed the news from politics news category after competing with Nazim Hassan and Moosa Rasheed from Avas Online.
Journalism Award 2016 witnessed the introduction of a new category in "Best Feature Article". The award under this category was won by Niumathullah Idrees of Mihaaru news. He was awarded at the ceremony by locally famous poet 'Utheemu' Adam Abdul Rahman.
Idrees had been a former editor of Avas Online.
The Journalism Award 2016 ended by awarding a Lifetime Achievement award to Honorable Abbas Ibrahim.
Mr. Ibrahim is widely recognized and regarded as the prime pioneer of establishing news in Maldives with his contribution to the field spanning more than two decades. He was awarded at the ceremony by the Chancellor of Maldives Islamic University, Dr. Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed.
On Wednesday night's gala Raajje TV staged a silent protest, with journalists of the media donning shirts captioned 'Aburu' (Defamation) with a fund box with the same title resting on the table. They had flashed protest signs that called out for members of Broadcasting Commission to resign.
