Dubai: V. K. Hamza Abbas, editor-in-chief of Dubai-based Gulf Madhyamam Malayalam daily, has been presented the first UAE Exchange-Chiranthana Cultural Forum media award named after the late editor of The Gulf Today, P.V. Vivekanand.
The annual award, inclusive of a citation and a cheque for Rs100,000 (Dh5,409) was presented to the winner in Dubai on Sunday, a day after the third death anniversary of Vivekanand.
Sudhir Kumar Shetty, president of UAE Exchange, who presented the award to Abbas, remembered Vivekanand as a very fine human being and an editor who put journalism ahead of his life.
Punnakkan Mohammad Ali, president of Chiranthana Cultural Forum, said Abbas, who faced several challenges to make Madhyaman grow overseas as a leading newspaper with nine editions in the Gulf region, rightly deserved the award.
Thanking his team for the success of the newspaper, Abbas announced that he would donate the cash prize for the development of Wadihuda Institute of Research and Advanced Studies in his hometown in the south Indian state of Kerala.
Gopakumar Bhargavan, chief marketing officer of UAE Exchange, proposed that the award ceremony be held as part of a media summit on the death anniversary of Vivekanand from next year onwards.
Senior Indian journalists and Vismaya Vivekanand, the late editor’s daughter, were also present at the event.
