{"id":7090,"date":"2016-11-03T22:24:36","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T16:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kashmir.today\/?p=7090"},"modified":"2016-11-03T22:24:36","modified_gmt":"2016-11-03T16:54:36","slug":"kashmiri-girl-wanted-pilot-bags-goenka-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=7090","title":{"rendered":"Kashmiri Girl Who \u2018Wanted to be Pilot\u2019 Bags Goenka Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

Srinagar:<\/strong> One among the three Kashmiri journalists who swept prestigious Ramnath GoenkaAward on Wednesday in a ceremony held in New Delhi was a Srinagar\u00a0girl who always wanted to become a commercial pilot but ended up journalist to \u201ctell the stories of ordinary people\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Shortly after receiving the award, Ashwaq Masoodi \u2014 a news reporter with Mint \u2014termed it recognition of her \u201chard work and perseverance\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI am happy that I received the award,\u201d Ashwaq told.<\/em><\/p>\n

The scribe received the award for two stories she did for Mint\u2014\u201cBreaking the caste barrier\u201d and \u201cWrestling to succeed\u201d. The awarded stories (Ramnath Goenka award for Uncovering Invisible India) are part of a series she did on aspirations of the young in India in 2015. The two awarded stories were socio-economic profiles of people who want to be something breaking the barriers of caste, religion and patriarchy.<\/em><\/p>\n

An alumna of Srinagar-based Missionary School, Mallinson \u2014 Ashwaq said she wants to write the stories of ordinary people. \u201cAnd I try to tell these stories with a sensitivity that accords my characters respect and dignity that they deserve,\u201d she said.<\/em><\/p>\n

But the self-confessed poetry aficionado wanted to be a commercial pilot before she found her interest in writing during her school days. \u201cAs I completed my 12th, I attended a writing workshop organized by my mentor and senior journalist Muzamil Jaleel,\u201d she said. \u201cThis was when I started looking at writing very differently, as something that could probably, become my career one day.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

She went on to complete her bachelor\u2019s in Mass Communication and Multimedia Production from Degree College Baramulla and later joined Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI worked with Press Trust of India as a desk person-cum-reporter for 2.5 years, followed by five months as a legal correspondent with The Asian Age,\u201d she said. \u201cThe time I was in PTI honed my editing skills but I wanted to write beyond the normal everyday news reporting.\u00a0 There was a sense of directionless for a while till I knew I could realize my dream of becoming a writer through long-form journalism.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In 2012, she went to the Columbia Journalism School on a Fulbright Masters Nehru fellowship, for a degree in magazine writing. During that one year in the US, she wrote for The Atlantic, literary magazine Guernica, and the New York Timesblog.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mint hired her from Columbia. She writes \u2018long-form\u2019 stories for the publication \u2013 mostly on gender and marginalized communities.<\/em><\/p>\n

Last year, Ashwaq received The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for excellence in reporting on women\u2019s issues.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe award was for my series on human trafficking, looking at the social, economic, legal, and human aspects of the problem,\u201d she said. (KL)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Srinagar: One among the three Kashmiri journalists who swept prestigious Ramnath GoenkaAward on Wednesday in a ceremony held in New Delhi was a Srinagar\u00a0girl who always wanted to become a commercial pilot but ended up journalist to \u201ctell the stories of ordinary people\u201d. Shortly after receiving the award, Ashwaq Masoodi \u2014 a news reporter with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}