Singapore-based award-winning Pakistani documentary filmmaker Shehzad Hameed Ahmad has added another feather in his cap as he becomes the first Pakistani to serve as a judge at the prestigious Association of International Broadcasting Awards 2020 that will be held at Church House Westminster, London in November this year.
The international awards for journalism and factual television, radio, audio, and digital productions in any language run by the Association for International Broadcasting 2020 – an unprecedented year – marks the 16th year of these independent, influential, and respected awards.
Since 2015, Shehzad has exclusively worked as Senior Producer International Productions with Channel NewsAsia Singapore and has traveled to Brazil, Bangladesh, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Pakistan, Philippines, Afghanistan, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia and Nepal to film documentaries for the network.
His work has ranged on topics such as women’s rights, social issues, business and economics, investigations, and filming in war zones like Afghanistan to the jungles of Poso, Sulawesi – embedding with many militaries in the most dangerous locations in the world.
He has accessed and filmed with the most dangerous groups in the world, be it Taliban leaders in hiding in Afghanistan, the Mumbai attack masterminds in Pakistan, ISIS recruiters in Marawi or white supremacist militia groups in Georgia, Shehzad has garnered a reputation in gaining unprecedented access to bring to light the miseries of people stuck in conflict. Due to the quality of his work, his documentaries have broadcast on TVF International, Toggle, Dawn News, National Geographic, TV Ontario, Channel NewsAsia, and Crime and Investigation Channel amongst others.
Shehzad has remained a Fulbright scholar at New York University, graduating with a Master’s degree in Documentary Filmmaking.
Owing to his work, Shehzad received the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in 2014 from the King of Spain at the annual ceremony in Asturias, Spain – an honor he shares with Nelson Mandela. At the New York Festivals, Shehzad has won 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 3 Bronze awards in the Human Concerns category.
In recognition of his investigative documentary on child abuse, Mediacorp awarded him the Mediacorp News Award of the Year in 2015. He later won Pakistan’s Agahi Journalist of the year award in 2016 for his film on girls education in Pakistan which was endorsed by Malala Yousafzai. Shehzad recently won 2 Silver awards at the World Media Festivals in Hamburg, Germany for his documentary series on Afghanistan.
Mr. Ahmad was born in Auchi, Nigeria but brought up in Islamabad, and now lives in Singapore which he considers his home.
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