With the drastic change in the catego­ries of nominations for the second media awards to be held on May 3, many journal­ists though do not disagree outright, say the categories are not comprehensive of all types of news report­ing.

While the awards were given in 14 categories including nine for print media last year, there are only 5 awards up for grasps by the journal­ists from the print media, radio, and TV this time.

The Journalist re­porter, Deki C Gyeltshen said the catego­ries this year were too complicated and that they were changed at the last hour. She said the changes should have been announced last year so that she would have worked accordingly.

“I was focusing ­ on the entire inves­tigative stories but now there is no such category in the list,” she said.

Business Bhutan reporter Tenzing Lamsang said the “Gross National Happiness (GNH)” categories this year are not adequately comprehensive. “The categories could have been much greater,” he said, adding that the fifth category, “Discussion on GNH” was vague.

He also said that the category for investigative story was the most prestig­ious in the world of journalism. “But it’s strange to see that missing.”

Some categories in­cluding photography and cartoon, which many journalists call as essential, have been omitted.

A former photogra­pher of Bhutan Ob­server, Tashi Dendup, expressed his dissat­isfaction over elimi­nation of category for photography and cartoon. He said pho­tography and cartoon were integral part of journalism and that a news without picture was incomplete.

“A picture or car­toon can speak more than a thousand words,” he said.

Bhutan Observer Managing editor, Ngedup Zangpo agreed with him. “These were already practiced in Bhutan for quite some time and these two catego­ries should have been there,” he said.

One reporter who asked not to be named went as far as to say that it was not a media award but rather a GNH award.

Editors BHUTAN TODAY talked to admitted that media houses neglected the two categories: photography and cartoon. “The over all categories were agreed upon by media houses but some how we overlooked these categories,” said the Kuensel editor Ugyen Penjore.

Though there are not many professional photographers in the country, he said, to see the category eliminated was dis­couraging for aspiring photo-journalists.

Some categories in­cluding best designed paper, best Dzongkha edition and the best political report are also out from nomina­tion.

Some categories under which a few media houses were expecting to win have been omitted. Nge­dup Zangpo said that those categories un­der which they were strong were out.

“So we are bit down this year,” he said. None the less, the reporters have filed quite a good number of human-interest stories for the nomi­nation, he added. “We were expecting to win some awards this year too.”

One journalist from the print media said that it was a major professional lapse from the editors who represented their respective media houses during the time of their meeting with the DoIM offi­cials last month.

“Our editors are supposed to be more aware as to what cat­egories there should be but they virtually failed in their duty,” he said. “It seems they simply agreed on what the DoIM officials proposed for them.”

The department of information and me­dia (DoIM) officials said the categories were restructured and reduced to keep the awards prestigious for the winning journal­ists. The media award coordinator, Gyeduen Dolma, said the cat­egories were agreed upon by all the media houses.

“The categories were decided after consulting the media houses,” she said. The fifth category, “Dis­cussion on GNH,” she said, covered all the stories related to socio-economic aspects including the editorial write-ups.”

Ngedup Zangpo said he was over all happy with the categories. “In the land of happiness, the GNH categories would be good and we accepted,” he said.

Ugyen Penjore also agreed that this time the categories are bit confusing. But he said it all depends on one’s understanding.

In its website, the DoIM has stated the objective of the event as to recognize the best in professional journalism in catego­ries covering print, radio and television. “With the awards we hope to encourage a vibrant and informed society to realize Bhutan’s national policies, priorities and overall goals of Gross National Happiness,” the ministry website reads.

Media profes­sionals, including free-lancers, who have contributed significantly to News Media, were invited to submit entries in the four categories: environment, culture, economy, good gov­ernance and discus­sions on GNH.

By M B Subba in THIMPHU