Sainath has won the top Japanese International Award - the Fukuoka Grand Prize - 2021

There are three categories: Academic Prize, Culture Prize and the Grand Prize. The last is of course the biggest one. Previous Indian winners of the Academic prize include people like Prof. Romila Thapar. Previous Indian culture winners include people like sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. The last Indian Grand Prize winner was A. R. Rahman (2016). The FGP carries a bigger cash award with it than the Magsaysay Prize.

In the case of Sainath, it has been given to him -- taking PARI into account in the larger letter they sent him early on - for being:

"A passionately committed journalist who has continued to investigate impoverished farming villages in India, listen to voices from the rural population, capture the reality of the people’s lifestyle, and report 'rural stories'. As Asia goes through turbulent changes, Mr. Sainath has been seeking new 'knowledge' and promoting civil cooperation. For this reason, he is a very deserving recipient of the Grand Prize of Fukuoka Prize."

The jury is not only aware of Sainath's 40 years in journalism - but are also people who have seen and know the People's Archive of Rural India. The full citation on the FGP website mentions PARI in the very first paragraph. On the website of the prize - there are photographs of Sainath in the field and at one of his many talks with a housefull audience. There is even a photo of the entire PARI team. Also photographs of the young Sainath and Sonya!

The attachments tell us more about the award itself and the full citation.

You can also go to their website link: https://fukuoka-prize.org/en/laureates and see all of these and Sainath's acceptance speech video.

During his 40 years of journalism, Sainath has won about 50 national and international awards... (declined a few like the Padma Bhushan for good reason)

He has taught and continues to teach hundreds of journalism students, mentors scores of reporters and inspires several photographers, filmmakers, editors, writers and readers, including this one. He has influenced so many to follow the path he created; many among them have become award winning journalists themselves.