Catholic journalist gets international award

The award has been instituted in memory of a Dutch journalist and Carmelite priest who died in 1942 in Germany.

Anto Akkara

New Delhi:  Geneva-based International Christian Organization of the Media (ICOM) has chosen an Indian Catholic journalist for the Titus Brandma award for journalism.

Anto Akkara, who won the award, works with international media covering South Asia. The ward will be conferred on him at the World Media and Journalism Congress to be held at Panama city in October.

“The jury took the decision considering your contribution in defending human rights and speaking up for the oppressed in your journalistic work in South Asia,” the ICOM said in its communication to Akkara.

“By deciding to confer this prestigious honor, the jury acknowledges the stellar role you have played in highlighting the gross denial of fundamental rights and freedom of religion in the Kandhamal jungles of Orissa,” it added.

The triennial award has been instituted in memory of Blessed Titus Brandsma, a Dutch journalist and Carmelite priest who died in 1942 at the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.

After masters in English literature from St. Thomas College Thrissur, Akkara did law from Delhi University and has been working for over two decades with international media as foreign correspondent.

The journalist author, who has won several media awards, has penned a book on Kandhamal riots titled 'Kandhamal - a blot on Indian Secularism.'

Akkara’s latest book on Kandhamal ‘Early Christians of 21st Century’ was released in February 2013 at Velankanni.

Source: press release