For the first time in its 14-year history, the Kannadasan award, presented by the Association of Singapore Tamil Writers (ASTW), has been bestowed on a full-time print and digital journalist.
Tamil Murasu and tabla! journalist Janarthanan Krishnasamy was honoured with the award on Nov 15 at the 27th Kaviarasu Kannadasan Vizha held at the Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre.
The award is given annually to people under the age of 40 who have excelled in at least one of the fields of poetry, short story, book, commentary, drama, screenplay, song writing, media or related professions, with Tamil language as the medium.
It follows in the footsteps of the multitalented Kannadasan (1927-1981), Tamil poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor and philanthropist, who is widely known by the sobriquet Kaviarasu (King of poets) and touched many hearts with his simple, yet meaningful poems and songs.
Mr Janarthanan has been in the media industry for 10 years, beginning his career at Seithi, the Tamil news arm of MediaCorp, where he was part of its pioneering digital team as a news content writer.
Within a week of his joining, the Seithi website was launched. In a lean team of three, he juggled updating breaking news daily with managing Seithi’s social media pages and writing news scripts for radio and TV news.
Mr Janarthanan moved on to further his career as a reporter and sub-editor at Tamil Murasu and tabla! at Singapore Press Holdings. He also served a stint at TODAY.
Notably, Mr Janarthanan has won SPH Media’s English, Malay, Tamil Media Group’s award for Best Digital Content of the Year 2024 for his article Chinese by Birth, Tamils by Emotion, and secured many wins at the group’s quarterly awards.
Some of his impactful articles include his feature on the low supply of Indian cooks because of stringent S Pass requirements, a case of a boy who was abused by his parents, and the opening of a Komala Vilas outlet in Kitchener Junction.
Mr Janarthanan also regularly writes social commentaries in both the Community page of Tamil Murasu and the recently launched Murasu Kalam, a cross-media initiative.
Beyond newswriting, Mr Janarthanan’s contributions to society include writing entries for the Encyclopedia of Singapore Tamils, and efforts to foster harmony with the likes of hash.peace and Dharma Dialogues.
“Through the news articles that Janarthanan has written, those in need have got mental health support, people with disabilities have got jobs, those who lost their houses to fire have got donations,” said ASTW secretary Prema Mahalingam.
Mr Janarthanan sees the award as an acknowledgement of the vital contributions that Tamil journalists make in shaping society.
He said: “To document new happenings through an ancient language is an exciting, fulfilling responsibility. Bringing local and global news to readers in Tamil is my contribution to making it continue as a living language.”
Tamil Murasu News Editor, Irshath Mohamed, said: “I hope that his service to Tamil is reflected in the Tamil media industry in the several years to come and that it inspires future generations.”
“This award has honoured journalists who have been functioning as writers daily. I am happy that this has been given to Janarthanan who has contributed to this industry for several years,” noted Tamil Murasu Editor, Raja Segar.
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