INDORE, October 2, 2026 (Nazrana Times): The 18th edition of the three-day Indian Journalism Festival 2026 commenced on Friday at Jaal Sabhagruh in South Tukoganj, Indore, bringing together more than 150 journalists, editors and digital media professionals from across India.

Organised by the State Press Club, Madhya Pradesh, the national media gathering is focusing this year on “Gen-Z” and the generation’s growing influence on print, electronic and digital journalism.

The festival is also paying tribute to seven prominent figures of Hindi journalism, described by the organisers as the “Saptarishis” — late Rahul Barpute, Rajendra Mathur, Prabhash Joshi, Manikchandra Vajpayee, Rameshchandra Agarwal, Abhay Chhajlani and Krishnakumar Ashtana.

Supreme Court Justice J.K. Maheshwari Attends Opening Ceremony

According to the information provided by the organisers, Supreme Court of India Justice J.K. Maheshwari attended the opening ceremony as the chief guest.

Other guests included Umang Singhar, Leader of the Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly; Bijay Manohar Tiwari, Vice-Chancellor of Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication; and Rajiv Gulati, Chairman of MDH.

The gathering also included international and national media representatives, including Raju Lama, President of the SAARC Journalist Forum; Md Abdur Rahman, Secretary General of the forum; Gautam Lahiri, President of the Federation of Press Clubs in India; Prakash Nanda, Secretary General of the Correspondents’ Club of India; and other media professionals.

Festival Coordinator Sudesh Tiwari, Programme Director and State Press Club Madhya Pradesh President Praveen Khariwal, and Chief General Secretary Navneet Shukla are among the organisers associated with the three-day programme.

Saptarishi Lifetime Achievement Award

One of the major features of the festival is the presentation of journalism awards recognising professional contributions and long service to the media.

Senior editor Devpriya Awasthi, 73, has been selected for the Saptarishi Lifetime Achievement Award, instituted in memory of noted poet and literary figure Naresh Mehta.
The announced National Journalism Award recipients include Hardik Vikas Dave (Zee News), Tejashree Purandare (NDTV), Pankaj Wankhede (News India), Shubham Gautam (NDTV MP-CG), Preeta Upadhyay (Zee Media), Shikha Sharma (Magnon Group), Vaibhav Palnitkar (Dainik Bhaskar Group), Vishnukant Tiwari (BBC News Hindi), Vani Mishra (IBC-24), Himanshi Tiwari (India TV) and RJ Anadi Tiwari.

The announced State Journalism Award recipients include Girish Upadhyay, Prakash Bhatnagar (Anadi TV), Deshdeep Saxena (The Wildlife.com), Sharad Dwivedi (Bansal News), Sudhir Dixit (News18 MP-CG), Prabhu Pateriya (Swaraj Express SMBC), Shifali (ETV Bharat Digital), Shruti Tomar (Hindustan Times), Rajesh Sharma (Dainik Bhaskar Digital), Shashikant Trivedi, Bhavna Shukla (The Hitavada) and Pankaj Shukla (Subah-Savere).

Three Days of Discussions on Journalism’s Changing Landscape

During the three-day festival, journalists and media experts are scheduled to participate in panel discussions, media summits and interactive sessions examining the changing nature of journalism in the digital era.

The programme is expected to explore how Gen-Z audiences, digital platforms, emerging technologies and changing news-consumption habits are influencing traditional and new-media journalism.