Syed Nazakat, founder and Editor-In-Chief of DataLEADS, has been honoured with prestigious Karmaveer Maharatna award, by the international confederation of non-profit organisations in collaboration with the United Nations.

Nazakat was conferred with the award for his “consistent and outstanding contribution to Indian journalism, at a ceremony held at Noida, India on November 26.
Speaking at the award function, Nazakat said, “Despite immense challenges, we’re in the golden age of media.”

He said it was critical that media builds stronger and deeper collaboration with non-journalists to build engagement, revenue stability and to improve use of open source data, and to fight tide of fake news.

Nazakat has been at the forefront of series of media initiatives to support data journalism, watchdog reporting and fact-checking in India and in the region.

He is an award-winning journalist, media entrepreneur, founder and Editor-In-Chief of DataLEADS, which is a data-driven multiplatform digital media company.

The Karmaveer Puraskaar are a Global Awards for Social Justice and Citizen Action instituted by the citizens and people of India.

These awards are instituted by iCONGO (International Confederation of NGOs), a public-private-people partnership in association with other partners from industry, media and government.

The awards are held every year on November 26, the day the Indian constitutional pledge was signed.

Notable past recipients of the award include some illustrious names such as Australian author Gregory David Robert, former Member Planning Commission of India Syeda Hameed, Hermax chairperson and noted social worker Anu Aga, father of India's white revolution Verghese Kurien, Bollywood actor Rahul Bose and President of the Public Health Foundation of India K Srinath Reddy.