Sonal Kalra

Sonal Kalra

Kalra in 2010
Born India
Occupation Journalist, Writer

Sonal Kalra is an award-winning Indian journalist-author, presently with the Hindustan Times, India's second largest national English daily.

Career

Kalra, as the National Entertainment & Lifestyl Editor of HT heads Entertainment, Art and Lifestyle for 28 nationwide editions of the publication's daily supplements HT City in New Delhi and HT Cafe in Mumbai. She also writes an extremely popular weekly column A Calmer You[1] in HT City, which is being published since 2008, and has turned into two bestseller books by the same name. A features-writer and journalist since 1996, Kalra has previously edited a tech magazine and contributed to lifestyle publications on decor, health, wellness, fashion, food, beauty & fitness and travel, apart from serving as the content lead for Government of India web Portals under Ministry of Information Technology for over a decade.

She is the author of the books A Calmer You and More of a Calmer You which are based on her column and gives witty tips to beat everyday stress in life. The books have been rated among the best seller self-help books in top bookstores across the Indian metros. The third compilation of the columns, under the name 'Some More of a Calmer You' is due to release in end of 2016. She is the co-author of another book E-Government Toolkit for Developing Countries[2] published by the United Nations. A paper authored by her on India.gov.in: India's answer to single entry portals[3] was presented and published at the International Conference on Digital Government Research 2008, Montreal, Canada.

Awards and achievements

Kalra is a gold medallist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi and recipient of many prestigious awards including the Ramnath Goenka award as Best Film Journalist, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Award for contribution to journalism, United Nations Cultural Relations Media Award 2015, Excellence in Journalism award 2010 and 2012 by International think tank GPS (the other recipients of the award included Khushwant Singh, HK Dua, Vikram Chandra, Sunit Tondon). She also received the Media Leader of the Decade - Features award 2016 where the co-recipients included noted Indian journalists Shekhar Gupta and Prabhu Chawla. Kalra's other honours include the Public Relations Society of India award 1996, Best Content award for National Portal by Government of India 2005 and Manthan Award for exemplary content practices 2007.[4]

In September 2011, she was awarded the prestigious Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan Rashtriya Samman 2011 for contribution to media. She also received the Young Achievers Award 2011 for excellence in media by the noted communications academy Whistling Woods International.

In January 2012, Sonal Kalra was conferred the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Film Journalism. The prestigious award is the highest honour for journalists in India and includes a citation and Rs 100,000 as prize money. The award was presented by the Hon'ble Vice President of India at a special ceremony attended by several cabinet ministers, senior journalists and eminent people, in Delhi, on 16 January 2012.

Her notable works include the HT Power Couples series[5] where she interviewed the five most powerful couples of Indian film industry for the first time ever in their homes. The couples included Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna, Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai.

Kalra also received the 'Outstanding contribution to Journalism' award 2009 from the WPO, an International non-political body, for the above series.

References

  1. ↑ A Calmer You
  2. ↑ E-government toolkit for developing countries
  3. ↑ india.gov.in:India's answer to single entry portals
  4. ↑ "Citation". National Portal of India. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
  5. ↑ HT Power Couple Series
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