Awards
To date, I’ve won 4 awards for my freelance writing and have been nominated for 10 others. These include:
-Winner: ‘Young Stationers Award for Journalism and Communications’ at The Stationers' Company (2018)
Judges commended my writing for ‘taking a fresh and insightful perspective on themes such as women’s rights and the role of culture and religion in today’s society, particularly within minority communities’ at the Young Stationers' Annual Dinner and Awards.
- Winner: ‘Young Journalist of the Year’ at the GG2 Leadership Awards (2017)
The awards recognise and celebrate ‘outstanding work in the media’. Judges described me as a ‘fearless and forthright journalist’. I was also described, alongside my fellow winners, as a ‘high-profile achiever in my field, inspiring, leading and motivating by example’.
My winning features included my report on the world’s first café in Delhi, India run by acid attack survivors for VICE UK, my global exclusive on the unique challenges that Muslim women with eating disorders can face during the religious festival of Ramadan for VICE UK to my UK exclusive investigating the high incidence of so-called honour-based violence on British soil for Grazia.
- Winner: ‘Best Feature’ at the End Violence Against Women Awards (2016)
My award-winning long-form, heavily researched feature 'Think Honour Killings Don't Happen in the UK? Think Again' for Grazia investigated the high incidence of so-called honour-based violence on British soil and interviewing survivors who now live in anonymity. This was commended by judges for ‘helping the reader through the material gently and challenging myths in an organic way’ and for being ‘well researched and not sensationalised’. My award was covered by a number of publications including The Guardian.
- Winner: ‘Best Online Blog’ at the Asian Media Awards (2013)
The awards recognise and reward the very best British Asian journalists working in the Asian and mainstream media.
I’ve been shortlisted for 10 other awards too:
- Shortlisted: 'New to Freelancing Award' at the IPSE Freelancer of the Year Awards (2019)
The awards recognise ‘freelancers who lead their fields, adding creativity, innovation, diversity and entrepreneurial energy to our society and economy’. The CEO of the awards ceremony described my fellow finalists and I as “blown away by the quality. We received a large number of strong applications from freelancers all around the UK and the tough choices we had to make to reach these finalists reflects just how high standards were.” I was the youngest nominee in this category. You can find out more about my nomination here.
- Shortlisted: ‘Positive Role Model’ at the National Diversity Awards (2019)
The awards aim to celebrate the excellent achievements and ‘elevate the truly staggering diversity of talent the UK has to offer. These awards are for people who inspire other individuals through their work, commitment to helping others and infectious personalities'.
- Shortlisted: ‘Media Award’ at the Women of the Future Awards (2018)
The awards celebrate successful young women in the UK, provide a 'platform for remarkable female talent in the UK' as well as recognise 'the inspirational stars of tomorrow’. The 'Media' category shortlist included a number of distinguished editors, authors and broadcasters.
- Shortlisted: 'Freelance Journalist of the Year' at the MJA Awards (2017)
The awards recognise and reward outstanding health and medical journalism in the UK. My award-nominated features included investigating how mainstream health and wellness spaces can ostracise women of colour for The ESTABLISHMNT and my global exclusive on the unique challenges that Muslim women with eating disorders can face during Ramadan for VICE. The judges commended the latter feature: “it was refreshing to see Salma’s original take on eating disorders, a topic [we] thought had been fully explored.’
LONGLISTED:
- ‘XCity Award for Outstanding Journalism’ at City Journalism (2018)
The annual awards celebrate and honour outstanding journalism and the achievements of alumni from City Journalism, selected by alumni and journalism staff. I was longlisted alongside distinguished alumni for ‘being an award-winning journalist and writer. Most recently, Salma won the Young Journalist of the Year Award at the GG2 Leadership Awards 2017, including for her report on honour killings in the UK which also won her wide praise from organisations such as Ending Violence Against Women’.