India Abroad Editor receives Most Outstanding Journalist Award

Aziz Haniffa, editor, and chief diplomatic and political correspondent of India Abroad was presented with the Most Outstanding Journalist Award by a coalition of the Indian-American community, political, and cultural organisations, under the aegis of the National Council of Asian Indian Associations (NCAIA) recently. The award was presented by Nirupama Rao, India's Ambassador to the US, at a banquet held at Martin's Crosswinds in Greenbelt, Maryland, to celebrate India's 65th Independence Anniversary. The event was attended by over 300 guests, including senior State Department officials.

The award stated that NCAIA and the other organizations "takes great pride in honoring" Aziz with the Outstanding Journalist Award, "for your untiring efforts to improve Indo-US relationships and empowering political and social awareness in the Community through your writings."

The organizers lauded him for the many scoops and the significant number of exclusives he had done over the years, and pointed out that in September and October 2004, he was the first and only South Asian journalist to have done back-to-back exclusive interviews with both President George W. Bush and Democratic Presidential challenger Senator John F. Kerry, on the eve of the 2004 Presidential election.

Aziz was also the only South Asian print journalist who was part of the White House press delegation that accompanied former President Bill Clinton to the subcontinent in March 2000. He was also the first South Asian journalist to interview President Barack Obama during the Presidential campaign.