Journalist Subina Shrestha has been nominated for 2016 International Emmy Awards, becoming the first Nepali to be nominated for the prestigious honour.

Shrestha, Al Jazeera English’s Nepal-based correspondent, has been nominated for the prestigious award for her story on last year’s devastating earthquake and immediate consequences, the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Subina Shrestha, AJE’s Nepal-based correspondent, witnessed the earthquake and its immediate consequences first hand. She was on the air within minutes, reporting on the devastation suffered, and the first reactions,” the Academy said.

Emmy is considered equivalent to the Academy Award (for film), the Tony Award (for theatre) and the Grammy Award (for music). The International Emmy Awards are presented annually since 1973 by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, to television programmes that have been produced and transmitted outside the United States.

Shrestha is one of the eight nominees under News and Current Affairs category from six countries spanning from three continents.

Shrestha began her career in newspapers and was earlier associated with The Kathmandu Post. She then became a documentary film maker. Her films have received several awards and have been screened at festivals worldwide

She has been associated with Al Jazeera

English since 2006 and has worked in several countries including India, Thailand and Myanmar.

She won the Concentra Award for Outstanding Video Journalism (2009) for her coverage of the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar in May 2008. She was the first journalist to reach Myanmar’s worst-affected Irrawady Delta where she spoke to survivors in villages. Her documentary on “Kamlaris: Nepal’s Slave Girls” won the Women’s Empowerment Journalism Award 2014.

Immediately after the earthquake that struck Nepal last year, Shrestha was on air from Patan Durbar Square of her hometown, recounting the devastation as she reported for Al Jazeera English.

 Subina lives and works in Nepal and focuses on social issues as well as political changes.

“Really excited to be nominated for the Emmys,” Shrestha tweeted after the Emmy nominations were announced.

The winners of the Emmy Awards will be announced in New York on September 21, at a Ceremony at Rose Hall, at Lincoln Center.