Media Point, an institute of professional journalism, awarded Raghu Nath Lamechhane -for his investigative report on Kamlariyas, published in Sancharika Samuha’s November/December’s issue of ‘Lekhmala’ -at a programme to mark its 6th anniversary here on Monday. He bagged a purse of Rs 5,555.

“Though the sum will not be a huge help in investigating stories, we hope it will encourage aspiring journalists to dig up stories and contribute to provide qualitative reports to the readers,” said Shree Ram Singh Basnet, executive director of Media Point.

“This year, we realised there were less investigative stories to choose from, as compared to the previous years…thanks to the political turmoil in the country.”

“Watching the plight of Kamaiyas on my visit to Kanchanpur inspired me to write my report,” said Lamechhane. “Though there has been significant improvement in the field of journalism, we have not been able to bring out many issues that are prevalent in our society.”

Other speakers lauded Media Point’s role in creating well-trained journalists and emphasised on qualitative reporting to meet with the growing numbers of print and electronic media.

The institute also awarded its outstanding trainees of 10th batch, group seven and eight. While Dalika Chhetri, Ananta Raj Subedi and Dev Raj Aryal stood first, second and third in the seventh group, Mahesh Acharya, Jitendra Silpakar and Jagat Krishna Prajapati secured first, second and third in the eighth group.

Shyam Madan KC from group seven and Srilochan Raj Upadhyaya from group eight won consolation prizes for maximum utilisation of their library. Whereas, the trainees of group eight presented Media Point with a camera.