Winning a National CR Award brings sense of responsibility

Pooja O. Murada from Alfaz-e-Mewat Community Radio station shares her thoughts on winning the national award.

OneWorld:  What does it mean to you to win this award?

Answer: It is assuring to receive the National CR award. At one level, it brings a sense of happiness that just like our community does, the jury too finds the programmes meaningful.

On the other hand, the award brings a great sense of responsibility to continue to do good work and live up to the image of a national awardee.

OneWorld:  Did you produce programmes  specifically to apply for awards or did you send your best programmes for awards?

Answer: We had shared an episode of our ongoing programme related to the theme of law and legal rights that is being broadcast for a long time at the station. 

The shared programme was one of the good programmes under the series that shows the PPCP (Public Private Community Partnership) model at work.

OneWorld: What is your message for CR stations to encourage them to apply for CR awards in future?

Answer: Although filing for an award is a time consuming task, but a few accolades, like the National Award by the Government, brings good visibility to the work of community radio stations, which otherwise have very limited platforms to share and showcase their work. 

The CR awards are very motivating to the community reporters and the listeners who are the actual receivers of this recognition.  Along with the recognition, the awards bring a sense of responsibility to the station to continue to pursue meaningful content production with community participation.

OneWorld:  Anything else you want to add?

Answer: It is important to explain the award categories well and make it simplified for the grassroots radio stations to participate in it. The award filing process should become online. One station one award principle makes the award more significant.