Hindi news channel Aaj Tak has bagged the Best Campaign of the Year (TV) Award at the 27th Radio and TV Advertising Practitioners' Association of India (RAPA) Awards 2001. The awards function is to held this evening in Mumbai.

Through the ad campaign, Aaj Tak wanted to put forth the message that it was serious about the business of news coverage 24-hours a day. The channel knew the importance of the ad having universal appeal and so it looked at situations where the serious facet of the brand could be accompanied by an underlying sense of humour, says a company release.

The campaign was conceptualised by Gajraj Rao of Apocalypso Filmworks. According to Apocalypso director Pradeep Sarkar, " We were given a free hand. The challenge was to mark the transition of Aaj Tak from a 1/2-hour programme to a 24-hour news channel and then as the Sabse Tez channel. The idea of using a black and white, humorous and old style juxtaposed with contemporary themes was to highlight the changes that it would make in our lives. The RAPA awards are a sure sign of the appreciation and success that the ads have achieved."

The channel has earlier been honoured by the Indian Television Academy and Media Meet. RAPA claims to have received a record number of entries this year. All Radio and TV entries produced in India and broadcast and telecast for the first time, in any part of the world, between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2001 were eligible to compete.RAPA claims to be the only organisation that honours and gives awards in 48 categories and 17 India languages.

Other dignitaries expected to be present at the RAPA event include Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan, Mumbai's sheriff Kiran Shantaram and film director Mahesh Bhatt.