Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF) presented the 11th SCARF Media for Mental Health Awards 2022, virtually on Saturday, honouring journalists from across the country and recognising their work that contributed to mental health awareness.
Journalists Amit Kamath and Meha Bhardwaj Alter were recognised and awarded the first place for their series “Mind Over Medals” published in News9 Live which focused on the mental health of sportspersons.
Rohitha Naraharisetty was given an ward for the article “Inside India’s Mental Health Institutions, Women Lose Autonomy and Agency” published in The Swaddle, and Devrupa Rakshit for the article “Society Idealizes Having a Great Memory. But What if It’s Better to Forget?” in The Swaddle were awarded second and third places respectively.
As part of the regional category, Santhosh Sisupal from Manorama Arogyam magazine was awarded for an article on “Medicine for Mental Illness, Bust the Misconceptions”.
In the special category introduced to award mental health professionals, Anna Maria Joseph, a clinical psychologist, was awarded for her piece in The Swaddle on “How Indian Women’s Mental Health is Deeply Tied to Proper Menstrual Care”.
Advocate Sanjay Pinto announced the awards and delivered the keynote address.
Speaking about the award-winning stories, Jaya Sreedhar, Media Health Consultant and Chairperson of the SCARF Media Awards, said that it was a welcome trend to see issues such as menstruation, stress at work, and other everyday aspects and their relation to mental health being explored more critically. “These stories give rise to conversations which are gradually helping de-stigmatise mental health issues,” she said.
Ms. Jaya said that journalists had a huge responsibility to help readers navigate misinformation digitally as well as make sense of a whole lot of extra information dished out in the name of mental health advice.
Introducing a new project by SCARF, she said that students of mass communication and journalism would be encouraged to write feature stories on mental health which would then be selected and sent to different media outlets. A notification would be put out on the SCARF website shortly calling for applications for the same.
Venkatesh R., editor, Dinamalar Pattam and co-chairperson of the SCARF awards, was present.
