Winners announced at IIMCAA Awards; Soumya Pillai bags ‘Journalist of the Year’ honour

The Indian Institute of Mass Communication Alumni Association (IIMCAA) on Tuesday announced the winners of the 10th IIMCAA Awards at the inaugural ceremony of its 14th annual Connections Meet held in New Delhi.

The event was attended by IIMCAA President Sushil Singh, General Secretary Atul Gupta, former Presidents Kalyan Ranjan, Simrat Gulati and Prasad Sanyal, along with Souvenir Editor Santosh Oraon, who jointly released a commemorative publication.

The awards recognised excellence in journalism, advertising, public relations and public service, bringing together alumni, media professionals and dignitaries from India and abroad.

Jury Awards

The prestigious Journalist of the Year Award was conferred on Soumya Pillai.

Other winners included:

• Laxmi Devi Aere – Agriculture Reporter of the Year

• Safeena Wani – Reporter of the Year (Publishing)

• Medha Yadav – Reporter of the Year (Broadcast)

• Mohammad Asad – Producer of the Year (Broadcast)

• Saurav Kumar Borah – Indian Language Reporter of the Year (Publishing)

• Alpesh Arvind Karkare – Indian Language Reporter of the Year (Broadcast)

• Tanzil Asif – Independent Reporter of the Year (Digital Video)

• Hasleen Kaur – Ad Person of the Year

• Panchanan Mishra – PR Person of the Year

The Jury also gave Special Mention Awards to Gargy Satapathy, Nantha Kishore G K and Garima Singh. Awardees received cash prizes ranging from ₹10,000 to ₹1.5 lakh, along with trophies and certificates.

Committee Awards

In the Committee Awards category:

• Alumni of the Year: Chandan Roy and Abhinav Pandey

• Lifetime Achievement Awards: Milan Vohra, Lipika Sud, Pradeep Kumar Mallik, Dr Sangita Thakur and Mitali Mohanty Ghosh

The Public Service Award honoured Suresh Kumar Vashishth (IAS), Virendra Mishra (IPS), Kapil Sharma, Kumar Abhishek (CAPF), Prerna Prasad and Ankita Sahoo.

Other recognitions included:

• Connecting Alumni of the Year: Anand Kumar Dutta and Madhav Sharma

• Connecting Chapter of the Year: Maharashtra and Bihar Chapters

• Connecting Group of the Year: IIMC Vicharaks’ Samosa Party

Under the Pillars of IIMCAA category, awards were presented to Ramesh Muniyappa, Manoj Kumar, Prasad Sanyal, Arvind Kumar and Ezrela Dalidia Fanai (Posthumous).

MC Joshi was felicitated for completing 50 years since graduation, while 74 alumni received Silver Jubilee honours.

Among those present were former IIMC Director General KG Suresh; retired bureaucrats Amarendra Khatua, Amitabh Verma and Rajesh Malik; journalists including Supriya Prasad, Mimansa Malik, Akhilesh Sharma, Shishir Sinha, Sanjay Mishra, Sunil Singh, SP Singh, Anuranjan Jha, Alok Kumar, Inderjit Rai, Vibhudatta Pradhan, Mona Parthasarathy, Nigmananda Prusty, Mihir Ranjan and Ramesh Chandra; PNB Zonal Manager Rajesh Kumar; corporate communicators Jyoti Kumar, Deepak Shankar, Anshuman Gunjan, Arijit Banerjee, Anand Bhushan and Harshendra Vardhan; and several alumni from India and overseas.

According to a press release, chapter-level Connections Meets will also be organised across various cities in India and abroad over the next two to three months.

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IIMCAA Awards 2026: Full List of Winners

Journalist of the Year – Soumya Pillai
Agriculture Reporter of the Year – Laxmi Devi Aere
Reporter of the Year (Publishing) – Safeena Wani
Reporter of the Year (Broadcast) – Medha Yadav
Producer of the Year (Broadcast) – Mohammad Asad
Indian Language Reporter of the Year (Publishing) – Saurav Kr. Borah
Indian Language Reporter of the Year (Broadcast) – Alpesh Arvind Karkare
Independent Reporter of the Year (Digital-Video) – Tanzil Asif
Ad Person of the Year – Hasleen Kaur
PR Person of the Year – Panchanan Misra

Jury Special Mention Awards:

• Garima Singh – Reporter of the Year (Broadcast)

• Nantha Kishore – Indian Language Reporter of the Year (Broadcast)

• Gargy Satapathy – Indian Language Reporter of the Year (Publishing)

Committee Awards:

• Lifetime Achievement: Milan Vohra, Lipika Sud, Pradeep Kumar Mallik, Sangita Thakur, Mitali Mohanty Ghosh

• Alumni of the Year: Chandan Roy, Abhinav Pandey

• Public Service: Suresh Kumar Vashishth (IAS), Virendra Mishra (IPS), Kapil Sharma, Kumar Abhishek, Prerna Prasad, Ankita Sahoo

• Connecting Alumni: Anand Kumar Dutta, Madhav Sharma

• Connecting Chapter: Maharashtra, Bihar

• Connecting Group: IIMC Vicharaks’ Samosa Party

• Pillars of IIMCAA: Ramesh Muniyappa, Manoj Kumar, Prasad Sanyal, Arvind Kumar, Ezrela Dalidia Fanai (Posthumous)