Aamir Peerzada Becomes First from Jammu Kashmir to Win International Emmy with BBC Team

SRINAGAR: Aamir Peerzada, a journalist from Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir, has become the first from the region to be part of a BBC team that won an International Emmy Award. The honour was conferred for the documentary Myanmar’s Civil War, which secured the award in the category of Outstanding Continuing News Coverage – Short Form at the prestigious News and Documentary Emmy Awards 2025.

The ceremony was held at Palladium Times Square, New York City, on June 26 and was organised by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS), recognising excellence in global television journalism.

Aamir Peerzada, who served as the field producer on the BBC’s six-and-a-half-minute documentary, undertook a ten-day mission to Myanmar’s conflict-ridden Chin State. Operating in perilous zones controlled by ethnic resistance groups, he played a crucial role in facilitating access and enabling the team to document human rights abuses by the military junta, including forced child recruitment, disappearances, and systemic violence.

Hailing from Barzulla Panjigam in Bandipora, Peerzada completed his early education at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Shahkote Baramulla, a residential school. He pursued a BSc from Degree College Sopore before completing a one-year diploma in Broadcast Journalism in Chandigarh in 2012. His journalism career began with NDTV in 2013, and he later joined the BBC, where he has reported from conflict zones across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Syria, India, and now Myanmar.

This is not Peerzada’s first major honour. He is a two-time RedInk Award winner—first in 2016 in the sports category and again in 2017 for his documentary Lighting the Himalayas in the science and innovation category. He also received the Ramnath Goenka Award for On-the-Spot Reporting in 2015 for his coverage of the devastating 7.8 magnitude Nepal earthquake, which he witnessed first-hand while shooting his documentary Operation Everest: Summiteers to Saviours.

Other accolades include recognition at the Canada International Film Festival, the Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival (2015), Asian Pacific Broadcast Union Prize (2016), and nominations at the Asian Rainbow TV Awards. He was also a semifinalist in the G2 Green Earth Film Festival.