Journalist Dilip Paudel of Nagarik Daily has been named the winner of Barbara Adams Investigative Journalism Award 2017. A meeting of the Judge Committee, Barbara Adams Investigative Journalism Award, held on Monday (April 16) picked Paudel as the winner.

Former President Ram Baran Yadav will hand over the award carrying a purse of Rs 1,00,001 to Paudel amid a function on the occasion of Democracy Day and birthday of the late Barbara Adams on April 24,2018.

According to a statement issued by Barbara Adams Foundation, a total of 45 applications were received by March 31, 2018 after the foundation called for submissions of investigative reports published, aired or broadcast in 2017.  “The Judge Committee sat through three rounds of selection process to pick Paudel’s report on series of corruptions and irregularities by the leadership of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) as the winning report,” read the statement.

The issues raised by the reports, depth of their investigations, and scale and reach of the impact they made in 2017 were the core criteria used by selection committee to pick the winner, the foundation stated in the statement.

The foundation has also decided to pick as Honourable Mention of the top five applicants selected by the jury beginning this year. Kalpana Bhattarai has been selected as the winner for 2017 for her investigative report on the dons’ engagement in crusher industries. The award carries a prize money of Rs 10,001.

The top five reports from ten shortlisted reports are Paudel’s report; series of reports on NCELL tax scam by Krishna Acharya of Kantipur Daily; report on irregularities and misuse in the purchase of vehicles by the officials of the constitutional bodies by Rameshwor Bohara of Himal Khabarpatrika; report on copyright violations and plagiarism in medical sector in Nepal by Nagarik Daily’s Bishnu Prasad Aryal; and, Kalpana Bhattarai’s report.

A journalist and writer, Barbara Adams instituted the Barbara Adams Investigative Journalism Award on May 16, 2013 with the endowment fund of Rupees Ten lakhs (US $ 10,000) in order to promote investigative journalism, and through it, good governance and democratic norms and values in the Nepali society.

Born in New York City in 1931, Barbara Adams came to Nepal in 1961, and lived here until her death on April 22, 2016, two days short of her 85^th birthday. She had founded Barbara Foundation in 2010.

Surendra Poudel, correspondent of the Nagarik Daily, became the first recipient of the award in 2014. Kantipur Daily correspondent Krishna Gyawali was winner of the Award’s second edition in 2016.