Deja vú: IBNLive.com, CNN-IBN win NT awards again

WON FINE DAY: IBNLive.com team members accept the award for Best English News Website.

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Maharaj or Dada, Ganguly's legacy lives on

Featured Slideshows

New Delhi: CNN-IBN was declared the Best English News Channel of the Year and IBNLive.com the Best English News Website of the Year for the second consecutive year at the annual News Television (NT) awards in Delhi on Saturday evening.

Network 18 dominated the awards ceremony with CNN-IBN winning accolades for its shows, documentaries and special reports.

“It’s great to be the best news channel in the country twice in a row, but our backroom office is our engine and strength. They work in anonymity, but it's they who run the show,” CNN-IBN Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, who was adjudged the best English News Anchor of the Year Award, said.

Even before the presenter revealed the name of the Best English News Website Award, there was a unanimous din across the hall, cheering IBNLive.com.

“We are really excited. This is our second consecutive NT award. Earlier this year, we were chosen Webby Honorees. We also won the PC World Award. So winning has now become a habit,” Senior News Producer, IBNLive.com, Lopamudra Ghatak, said.

CNN-IBN Entertainment Editor Rajeev Masand scored a five on five for his incisive wit and spot-on analysis of the world of films. He was declared as the Best Entertainment Critic of the Year.

Making newsmakers accountable to the common man every night, Face the Nation bagged the Best Presented Popular News Show Award.

Cutting through bureaucratic sidestepping, Devil's Advocate, the Sunday interview show hosted by Karan Thapar, won the award for Best News/Current Affairs Show.

Giving you the clearest perspective on the environment, A Question of Land was declared as the Best Show on Environmental Awareness.

CNN-IBN swept away several other awards beating tough competition from various English news channels like NDTV and Aaj Tak:

• Best Sports Show: Final Score 30 minutes
• Best Talk Show: State of the Nation
• Best News Documentary Programme Limited Episode: Lest We Forget
• Best Promo Award: CJ Concept

CNN-IBN is not alone on this road of high performance and acknowledgment. Associate channel CNBC won awards for the Best business Talk Show for Young Turks, and Best Business Programme in English for Up South.

CNBC Awaaz's Kaun Rahega Crorepati won the Best Business Talk Show in Hindi and Stock Talk, the Best Business Programme in Hindi.

The Best Talk show in Hindi was awarded to IBN7's Zindagi Live and the Best Crime Show in Hindi to IBN7's Criminal.

Instituted last year, the NT Awards recognise and honours news channels and professionals in the country. The NT Awards, instituted by indiantelevision.com, is an annual event and this year’s edition covers the period between April 1, 2007 and March 31, 2008.