IANS correspondent bags British award

London, Feb 27 : Dipankar De Sarkar, the European bureau chief of Indo-Asian News Service , was named Journalist of the Year by the Asian Voice Political and Public Life Awards at a ceremony here.

The award was presented Thursday night by Minister for Europe Caroline Flint in the House of Commons, Britain's lower house of parliament.

De Sarkar is one of the longest-serving Britain-based foreign correspondents writing for the Indian media.

Other winners included: Minister for Women and Equality Harriet Harman (parliamentarian of the year); Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal and Executive Vice President Anita Goyal (international entrepreneurs of the year), Slumdog Millionaire co-producer Christian Colson (special award for international achievement), Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather (opposition parliamentarian of the year) and Baroness Paula Uddin (Peer of the year).

Among the large gathering at the ceremony were Transport Minister Geoff Hoon, Asian Voice Publisher and Editor C B Patel, Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles, Home Affairs Select Committee Chairman and Labour MP Keith Vaz and a number of other British MPs and ministers.