FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

SAJA names its 2025 journalism award winners and finalists

New York City, November 4, 2025 – The South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) has announced the winners and finalists of its 2025 journalism awards. The awards recognize outstanding work by or about South Asia and its diaspora, and help further SAJA’s mission of supporting newsroom diversity and promoting better coverage of issues related to South Asia worldwide. 

Journalists competed in six categories. Here are the winners and finalists:

General Excellence

Winner: The Wizard of Ozy, by Shaan Merchant, (Slate) 

Judges’ Citation: The Ozy piece stood out for being a strong investigative piece layered with a personal/professional narrative. It's a tough balance to achieve and Shaan's piece remained engaging, raising broader questions about race. The story goes into uncomfortable areas about race and society - always in pursuit of truth. We found the writing to be courageous given how hard it is to master this style of narrative/ investigative journalism.

Winner: Healing after Helene, by Zulekha Nathoo (USA Today)

Judges’ Citation: Healing after Helene is a strong, visual story, touching upon a broad range of issues, told through a diverse group of voices - in ways traditional TV outlets often fail to do. It's a hard story to do, given the ground realities of reporting from a disaster-hit area. What's also impressive is that the entrant, Zulekha wore many hats - serving as correspondent as well as co-producer and co-writer. We found the story not only stood out among its peers at the awards but also among other pieces we have seen about the impact of Helene.

Finalist: 

• America Through Food by Tejal Rao 

• • Is a Taco a Sandwich? No. Yes. Well, It Depends on the Law.

  • Why Do We Love ‘The Bear’ So Much?

  • California’s Rice Royalty Is Stepping Down

The Daniel Pearl Award

Winner: Brutality of Sugar, by Megha Rajagopalan and Qadri Inzamam (New York Times)

Judges’ Citation: The story is very powerful and has not been covered before in this way. The way the connection was made all the way to the large corporations is unique.

(No finalists) 

Outstanding Student Journalism Award

Winner:“‘Fighting for 40 years’: The tiny Texas community facing down Big Industry," by Aina Marzia (Al Jazeera) 

Judges’ Citation: The judges were impressed  by the reporter's thoughtful and complete picture of the environmental  issue described, providing a clear explanation of a complex controversy. They also were impressed by the fact that the reporter gathered all this material on her own without depending on the resources of a news organization backing her.

Finalists:

• "Indigenous Rights Are Rolled Back for Profits," by Subhanjane Das (PassBlue)

• "Older Adults and Suicide," by Sreejita Patra (Wisconsin Watch)

Outstanding Arts, Culture, and Lifestyle Reporting Award

Winner: “How modernity is rewriting Taliban rule,” by Rick Noack (Washington Post)
Judges’ Citation: The series of stories by Rick Noack for the Washington Post is an impressive feat of on-the-ground reporting and source building. The judges were struck by the fresh angles brought to a region that can often be covered through a narrow geopolitical lens, particularly in examining how Taliban rule is being reshaped by the internet and forces of globalized modernity. His reporting offers readers an original and nuanced perspective on cultural and lifestyle shifts that can sometimes be overlooked in broader coverage of the region.

Finalist: 

• India’s plan to teach traditional science by Vaishnavi Chandrashekar

Outstanding Business Reporting Award 

Winner: "Wives Out: Apple supplier Foxconn rejects married women from India iPhone jobs," by Praveen Paramasivam, Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra (Reuters) 

Judges’ Citation: The story reveals systematic discrimination against married women at a Foxconn iPhone assembly plant in Tamil Nadu — one of India's highest-profile foreign investments. The reporting uncovered that married women were being rejected from jobs on grounds they had more family responsibilities than unmarried women, a practice that violated both Foxconn's and Apple's own anti-discrimination policies. The impact of the coverage was immediate and significant. Within months, Foxconn quietly changed its recruitment protocols, instructing hiring agents to remove age, gender, and marital criteria from job advertisements.This piece exemplifies how thorough, persistent business reporting can reveal systemic injustice and catalyze reform.

Finalists:

• India's Abandoned Elders by Matt Sedensky (The Associated Press) 

• How a Nobel Laureate Became a Political Target in Bangladesh by Bloomberg Originals

Outstanding International Reporting Award 

Winner: “Riders in the smog: Pollution is poisoning gig workers,” by Zuha Siddiqui, Samriddhi Sakunia and Faisal Mahmud (Rest of World)

Judges’ Citation:This was an innovative approach to investigating a familiar issue, using air quality monitors to track gig workers’ daily exposure to carcinogenic pollutants in India. It stood out as an excellent example of cross-border reporting in South Asia, weaving together stories from Lahore, Delhi, and Dhaka. The presentation was equally impressive and the story brilliantly linked the challenges of climate change, labor rights, and public health.

Finalists:

• “Election of Mexico’s First Female President,” by Maya Averbuch (Bloomberg)

• • AMLO Spends Like Never Before to Set Up Successor’s Victory in Mexico

  • AMLO Ran Mexico as a Maverick. His Protege Is Playing It Safe

  • How Mexico City Averted All-Out Drought

• “Pakistan polio workers fighting the virus one house at a time,” by Faras Ghani (Al Jazeera)