National Awakening Day trophies presented

National Awakening Day trophies presented

JAKARTA (JP): The Association of Indonesian Journalists (PWI) yesterday conferred five awards for this year's best articles about National Awakening.

The Harkitnas Award, named after National Awakening Day which falls on May 20, is considered one of the most prestigious press awards after the Adinegoro award.

Suara Pembaruan, a Jakarta afternoon daily newspaper, received the award for best editorial in commenting on the significance of National Awakening Day with this year's 50th national independence anniversary.

Hendro Basuki, a journalist with the Suara Merdeka daily in Semarang, won the general category for his article that linked tax, nationalism and democratization.

I.B. Sudiarta, a journalist at the Nusa Tenggara daily in Denpasar, won the reporting category with his article portraying the lives of villagers in Pangembangan, Bali, amidst a stench of fish.

Fachrul Rasyid, a reporter at the Gatra news weekly in Jakarta, was given the special category award for his recent article about Sulasih, Indonesia's first woman author, who died last Saturday at the age of 87.

The best writing for the history category was won by Tjoet Lam of Higina, a health magazine in Jakarta, for his article on the late president Sukarno.

The award is jointly sponsored by PWI, the Ministry of Information and the Institute of National Resilience (Lemhannas)

Parni Hadi, PWI's Secretary General and Program Director of the Harkitnas award contest announced the winners, each of whom won Rp 750,000 ($325) in cash, and a trophy.

Director for Press and Graphics Subrata, representing Minister of Information Harmoko, called on PWI to include television and radio reporters in future selection.

He recalled that PWI in its congress last year agreed to begin admitting television and radio reporters into its membership and to draw up a new code of ethics governing the profession, both in print and electronic media. (01)