Take something old and true, make it legible to people who wouldn't otherwise encounter it.
In Berlin on May 7, the Times of India received five recognitions from the International News Media Association — a moment that quietly illuminates a larger truth about journalism in transition. From a column breathing new life into a two-thousand-year-old Tamil philosopher to a social media series honoring the soul of Kolkata's neighborhoods, the awards suggest that the most vital storytelling may lie at the intersection of the ancient and the immediate, the local and the digital. India's largest newspaper chain is not merely defending what print once was, but feeling its way toward what a newsroom might yet become.
- Print journalism's survival is under pressure, and TOI's Berlin sweep signals an urgent, deliberate pivot away from dependence on traditional advertising alone.
- 'Thirukkural With The Times' disrupts the assumption that ancient regional wisdom cannot travel — it won Berlin's top regional print prize by making a 2,000-year-old Tamil poet legible to modern English readers.
- The 'I am Kolkata, Amar Para' campaign channeled that same urgency into social media, producing 20+ neighborhood portraits that turned local pride into award-winning audience engagement.
- Three honorary mentions — for reader engagement, video storytelling, and IP monetization — reveal a newsroom placing multiple, simultaneous bets on what journalism can sustain financially.
- The trajectory is experimental but deliberate: TOI is not retreating into nostalgia for print, but building a diversified editorial architecture across formats, platforms, and revenue models.
The Times of India returned from the International News Media Association awards in Berlin with recognition across five categories — a result that says as much about the state of Indian journalism as it does about any single project.
The most celebrated work was 'Thirukkural With The Times,' a weekly column in TOI's Chennai edition. Writer Bharathi Bhaskar takes couplets from Thiruvalluvar — a Tamil poet who wrote more than two thousand years ago — and renders them meaningful for contemporary, English-speaking readers. It is a deceptively simple idea: make something ancient legible to those who would never otherwise encounter it. Berlin's judges named it the best use of print in a regional market.
The Kolkata newsroom contributed its own prize-winning work through 'I am Kolkata, Amar Para,' a social media series documenting the city's distinct neighborhoods — its paras. More than twenty pieces emerged from the project, including a tribute to Boipara, the storied literary quarter known as College Street. The campaign placed third in regional social media, and earned a second citation for drawing readers into active engagement with the newsroom.
Three honorary mentions rounded out the evening. TOI Chennai's video project 'The Keeladi Story' was recognized nationally, while Bombay Times Lounge was cited for transforming celebrity editorial content into intellectual property with revenue potential beyond advertising.
Taken together, the awards sketch a portrait of a newsroom in deliberate reinvention — experimenting with ancient texts and neighborhood identity, with video and new business models, testing what readers want and what the industry can sustain. The experiments are not yet proven at scale, but Berlin suggested that at least some of them are finding their mark.
The Times of India walked away from the International News Media Association awards in Berlin on May 7 with recognition across five categories—a sweep that reflects how the country's largest newspaper chain is thinking about journalism in an era when print alone no longer sustains a newsroom.
The headline prize went to "Thirukkural With The Times," a weekly column running in TOI's Chennai edition. The column takes couplets from Thiruvalluvar, a Tamil poet and philosopher who wrote over two millennia ago, and translates them for readers who speak English and live in the present day. Writer Bharathi Bhaskar authors the piece, finding in ancient verse something that still speaks to contemporary life. It's a simple idea executed with care: take something old and true, make it legible to people who wouldn't otherwise encounter it. The judges in Berlin thought it was the best use of print in a regional market.
A second major award went to "I am Kolkata, Amar Para," a social media campaign by TOI's Kolkata newsroom. The word "para" means neighbourhood, and the series set out to document what makes the city's distinct pockets of life worth paying attention to. Over twenty separate pieces emerged from the project, each one focused on a single neighbourhood. One celebrated Boipara, also known as College Street, the historic heart of Kolkata's literary and intellectual life. The campaign placed third in the Best Use of Social Media category for regional outlets.
Beyond the major prizes, TOI earned three additional honours. The "Amar Para" series was cited again, this time for its success in encouraging readers to engage with the newsroom's work. In a separate recognition, TOI Chennai's "The Keeladi Story"—a video project—received an honorary mention in the national video category. And Bombay Times Lounge, a supplement produced by TOI's metro desk, was recognized for a different kind of innovation: turning celebrity-focused editorial content into intellectual property that could be monetized beyond the traditional advertising model.
The awards matter because they signal something about how Indian newspapers are adapting. TOI is not simply trying to preserve print journalism as it existed. Instead, the newsroom is experimenting across formats—columns that bridge ancient and modern, social media campaigns that celebrate local identity, video storytelling, and new revenue streams built from editorial content itself. Each award represents a different bet on what readers want and what the business can sustain. Whether these experiments will prove durable enough to support a newsroom at scale remains an open question, but the recognition in Berlin suggests that at least some of them are working.
Notable Quotes
The column shows how a couplet written over 2,000 years ago still holds relevance.— INMA awards judges, on Thirukkural With The Times
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a column about a 2,000-year-old Tamil poet win a journalism award in 2026?
Because it solves a real problem. Thiruvalluvar's couplets contain genuine wisdom, but most English-speaking Indians have never read them. The column makes them accessible without dumbing them down. That's the work of journalism—translation, not just reporting.
And the Kolkata campaign—why focus on neighbourhoods?
Because neighbourhoods are where people actually live. They're where identity forms. By celebrating individual paras, TOI was saying: your street matters, your community has a story. That resonates on social media because it's personal and local at once.
But these are all content plays. Where's the business model?
That's the harder question. The Bombay Times Lounge piece hints at it—taking editorial content and turning it into IP you can license or sell separately. But that only works if the content is good enough to have value beyond the newspaper itself.
Do you think these experiments will last?
Some will. The column will probably run as long as Bharathi Bhaskar wants to write it. The social media campaigns depend on whether they actually drive engagement and loyalty. The IP monetization is the real gamble—it requires building something valuable enough that others want to pay for it.
What's the larger story here?
A newspaper trying to survive by being more than a newspaper. Not abandoning print, but not relying on it alone. Testing different formats, different revenue streams, different ways of connecting with readers. The awards are just proof that some of it is working.