Kozhikode: 'Madhyamam' editor VM Ibrahim has been awarded the Calicut Press Club's 2023 Theruvath Raman Award for the best editorial. The award is for the editorial published in Madhyamam on 14th February 2023 titled ‘ Malayali engane nivarnunilkanam' ( How Malayali should stand upright).
The award, which consists of a cash prize of Rs 15,000 and a certificate, was instituted by the family of Theruvath Raman, editor of the popular newspaper Pradeepam. Press Club President Firoskhan M and Secretary Rakesh P S announced in a press release that a jury consisting of prominent media observer Dr Sebastian Paul, senior mediaperson K Balakrishnan and Press Club Journalism Institute Director VE Balakrishnan selected the editorial winning the award.
The subject of the editorial was the incident where a tribal youth named Vishwanathan from Wayanad, who had come to visit his wife who was in labour at the Institute of Maternal and Child Health of the Calicut Medical College, went missing after being beaten up by the security personnel and a mob on charges of theft and was found hanging dead in an empty field near the medical college the next day. The editorial was a reaction against the incident where the crowd judged the crime and gave out the punishment while the police and the law looked on with indifference.
This is the second time that VM Ibrahim has received the Theruvath Raman Award. In 2021, the award was given for the editorial ‘Manushyatvam Kurisherumbol’ (when humanity is crucified).
V.M. Ibrahim started working as an assistant executive editor in Madhyamam in June 2001. He worked as Executive Editor both at Madhyamam and Gulf Madhyamam. He was appointed editor of the paper in 2021. Ibrahim has published ‘Chekuthanum Choonduviralum’ and a translation work ‘Theerthadakante kanavukal’.
A postgraduate in Urdu literature, he is the son of the late VM Abdurrahman and Khadija of Abdurrahman Nagar in Malappuram. Wife: Hajara AK Children: Reja Khatun, Raji Ismail, Naji Ishaq. Son-in-law: Niyas Ahmed