The Virtual Jury for the 7th edition of Social Media for Empowerment Awards 2020-21 was successfully held on March 23, 2021. This year we received 145 entries across 7th categories. The virtual Jury members managed to filter 85 nominations, out of which 28 were shortlisted for the final evaluation by the Virtual Jury. A panel of 8th Jury members looked into the filtered nominations.
The list of Winners and Special Mentions will be revealed on May 21, 2021 in an online SM4E Award ceremony.

MEET OUR JURORS

Soma Katiyar
Executive Creative Director, BBC MEDIA ACTION

Soma uses the power of big ideas to create communication solutions that have social impact in her role as Executive Creative Director at BBC Media Action, India.She has worked extensively on HIV, gender, maternal and child health and sanitation.She has helped shape world-class innovations in mHealth, and has created the first ever android based mobile game on gender stereotyping called ‘Nugget’ and led a successful social media initiative on gender and sanitation with unique strategy and proven results.Her work has won several awards at various national and international platforms such as Cannes, Abbys, the Festival of Media at Valencia, Global Health Awards, Vodafone for Good and GSMA for Good Awards, Laadli & SME4.

Pooja Pande
Head of Strategy, Chambal Media
Pooja Pande is a writer & editor with a passion for intersectional feminist revolutions that led her to Khabar Lahariya in 2017, where she worked in editorial, outreach, and partnerships. Currently, Pooja heads Strategy at KL’s mothership, Chambal Media.

Nazia Erum
Nazia Erum is the author of the critically acclaimed book, ‘Mothering a Muslim’ and was named amongst the Stand-out Voices for 2018 by the Telegraph and in the Women Change-makers of 2018 by Mid-Day. She has actively sought to give voice to anti-bullying campaigns as well as inter-faith harmony. Her work finds mention in the BBC, The Guardian, Le Monde, Washington Post among other national and international media. Her work includes storytelling for change to create an enabling environment for effective policy, programme and legislation.

Leena Kejriwal
Founder Missing Link Trust
Leena Kejriwal is a photographer and social artist based in Mumbai and Kolkata. A brand ambassador for Fuji India, in 2014 she founded The Missing Project, a campaign against sex trafficking and slavery with the single purpose of creating mass awareness. Her approach to creating social impact by making the public a catalyst against trafficking through art and (inter)active technology makes The Missing Project a game-changer in the anti-trafficking domain. Kejriwal has been honored with multiple awards and accolades for her unique artistic take on this grave social issue.

Anubhuti Yadav
Prof. Anubhuti Yadav is Head of the Department of New Media and Course Director of Advertising and Public Relations Course at Indian Institute of Mass Communication. She teaches New Media, Data Journalism and Advertising & Public Relations. She is the co-author of Indian edition of Media Literacy: Key to interpreting media messages book developed under Digital International Media Literacy Project. She is currently working on a book on New Media Journalism. She has received Innovative Use of ICT in Education award during the ICT Conclave on Education 2016 organised by DELL, Public Relations Society of India award for Contribution to Mass Communication Education in 2018, Women of Excellence Award by Women Economic Forum ( WEF) and Web Wonder Women Award by the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare for using twitter to create awareness on Fake News and Misinformation.

Abhishek Sharma
Asst. General Manager – Technology, Jaipur Rugs
An Information Technology professional with 15+ years of experience and many ERP Implementations/Mobile App Developments in India and US, Abhishek is currently serving as a catalyst for business solutions, process Improvement through systems evolution, driving new ideas, objectives and development of systems evolution, thus enhances the customer value and customer experience.

Uttam Kumar Pegu
Associate Professor, Tezpur University
He is currently employed as an Associate Professor in the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Tezpur University, Assam. He has taught at St Anthony’s College and EFLU, Shillong prior to joining Tezpur University. He has done his doctoral research on ‘Information and Communication Technology Implications’ at AJK Mass Communication Research Center, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.He has authored a book titled “E-Governance in India: Concept, Initiatives and Challenges, published by Lambert Publishing House, Germany. He has published articles in both national and international journals. He has also completed projects sponsored by Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, International Labour Organization (ILO) and National Council for applied Economic Research, New Delhi.

Dr Madanmohan Rao
Research Director, Yourstory Media
Dr Madanmohan Rao is Research Director at YourStory Media and Charter Member at TiE Bangalore. He is a graduate of IIT Bombay and University of Massachusetts/Amherst, and has given talks and lectures in 90 countries around the world. He is the co-author of NetChakra, with Osama Manzar, Founder of DEF. He can be followed on Twitter at @MadanRao

Bendangsangba Imchen
Director of Elysium Enterprise
Ben Imchen is the proprietor and Director of Elysium Enterprise, a Nagaland based IT business entity involved in providing customized software solutions to various Government entities within the state. He completed his B. Tech and M. Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.
He is also a Director and one of the Founders of ColosseumTech Solutions Pvt. Ltd., registered in Hyderabad. With offices in Hyderabad, Nagaland, Pune, Noida, Bangalore and Chennai, and more than 10 years of experience in Global Positioning System (GPS) based Vehicle Tracking and Fleet Management, it is one of India’s oldest players in this arena. ColosseumTech, with its proprietary Falcon AVL Platform (www.falconavl.com), has clients such as Microsoft, Deloitte, MahindraSatyam, Dell, Cyient, Novartis, TechMahindra, P&G etc.

Syed Sultan. Kazi
PhD
Dr Kazi is a development professional and working in the space of ICT for Development and Social Innovation for over 17 years now. He has worked in various capacities and areas including programme design, development, implementation, assessment, partnership development, fund raising, research, and advocacy. He is currently heading the Council for Social and Digital Development (CSDD), a research, policy organisation for social and digital innovations for sustainable development in North East India. He is also Advisor and Consultant at Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), a pan India ICT for development agency. He is serving the Improving Public Library Movement (IPLM) Trust as the Secretary. He is founder of North East Development Foundation (a pan North East India Sustainable Development Agency). Mr. Kazi has few research and published works. He is an MPhil and PhD from the Centre for the Study of Law & Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University. His hobby is creative and development writing.