SHARON, MA– Meara Sharma of Sharon, MA, has won the 2017 Gracie Award for Outstanding Producer for her NPR radio feature “Kidnapped” on the plight of journalist hostages in Syria.
Sharma is the producer for the weekly national NPR show ON THE MEDIA produced by WNYC.
“I’m thrilled to receive this award and am honored to be in the company of so many brilliant women,” Sharma told INDIA New England News. “As a producer, so much of my work is behind the scenes, so it is wonderful that the Gracies recognize what that role means.”
Gracie Award is given annually by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, known as AWMF. The organization celebrates female luminaries by recognizing their outstanding achievements across new and traditional media platforms.
This year’s 42nd annual Gracie Awards Gala, in support of the AWMF’s educational programs and scholarship campaigns that benefit women in media, will take place on Tuesday, June 6 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
The event will recognize such esteemed honorees as America Ferrera, Drew Barrymore, Samantha Bee, Mariska Hargitay, Savannah Guthrie, along with some of the most talented women off camera, and touch on issues spanning from immigration to reproduction rights, race relations to women in the workforce. Later in the month, local and student award winners will be recognized at the Gracie Awards Luncheon on June 27 at Cipriani in New York City.
“If we learned one thing this year, it is that the strength, courage and contributions of women are crucial and necessary components in moving the world forward. As we look to honor women in media, we take pause and recognize the millions of women who are not able to use their voice and creativity to share their message with the world. We hear you. We are you. And we stand beside you. We look forward to another great year and congratulations to the 2017 Gracie Award honorees,” said Sarah Foss, AWMF Chair and Chief Product Officer, Advertising Management Systems, Imagine Communications.
Sharma is a producer for On the Media, where she often finds herself working on stories about thorny issues in far-off time zones, according to her official bio. In December 2014, she traveled to Liberia and made a show about Liberian journalists covering the Ebola epidemic.
Before landing at OTM, Sharma studied comparative literature at Brown University, researched art and reconciliation in Rwanda, tutored elementary-schoolers in Providence, produced a radio series in India, and worked at WBUR, Boston’s NPR station. In addition to radio, Sharma writes and edits literary journalism and occasionally makes dances.
