Bengaluru: The Karnataka Media Academy announced its Lifetime Achievement Awards, Annual Awards, and Endowment Awards for 2023 and 2024 on Thursday.
The prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for 2023 was announced for veteran journalist A.C. Shivanna. For 2024, Abdussalam Puthige, Editor-in-Chief of Vartha Bharati, was selected for this honor for his significant contributions to journalism.
Among the Annual Award recipients for 2023 was Ibrahim Adkasthala from Vartha Bharati, recognized for his outstanding work. Muhammad Akheel, also from Vartha Bharati, received an Endowment Award for his impactful reporting.
Several other journalists were acknowledged for their exceptional contributions over the two years. Notable recipients of the 2023 Annual Awards included Gangadhar Modliyar, Prof. Usha Rani N., Sushilendra Nayak, Vasudeva Holla, Alfred Tennison, and others who excelled in various fields of journalism.
For 2024, recipients of the Annual Awards included Prof. A.S. Balasubrahmanya, Rishikesh Bahadur Desai, Subhash Huggar, and several other notable journalists whose work brought significant attention to pressing issues in society.
The Endowment Awards highlighted excellence in specific categories. The Kannadamma Patrike Award was given to Ravi Kumar Channabasappa Kagganavar for his report on KYC updates and Vijay Kotiyaan from Vijay Karnataka for his feature on intellectuals. The
Mysuru Diganta Award recognized Shivananda Gombi of Kannada Prabha for his report on villagers emptying lake water and Sandhya Hegde of Prajavani for her feature on a beedi worker’s dream cut short.
Other significant awards included the Praja Sandesha Award for Shilpa P. of Deccan Herald for her report on manual scavenging, the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Mookanayaka Award to K. Neela from Kalaburagi, and the C.V. Rajagopal Memorial Award to K.M. Ravishankar from Kannada Prabha.
Special mentions for 2024 included Muhammad Akheel from Vartha Bharati for his report on untouchability in Koppal, B.K. Devayya from Republic Kannada News for his report on delayed pensions, and Nandeesh Mallenahalli from Suvarna News for a series on land allocation for the specially-abled.
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Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
