According to the judges' decision, the journalistic work to be submitted for the competition must have appeared in local or foreign media from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017, with datelines anywhere in KP or Fata. Headed by senior journalist Rahimullah Yousufzai, the committee would accept for consideration one entry each from every contestant for the following categories: best investigative Urdu news story/feature, best investigative English news story/feature, best investigative Urdu feature (from Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's districts other than Peshawar), best radio package (Urdu and Pashto), best newspaper picture, and best news television package.
Winners would get trophies and prize money of Rs 25,000 each. However, the television package award, according to the judges, will involve total prize money of Rs 50,000 to be divided equally among the winning television reporter and the cameraman. The committee has also decided to introduce two new awards for existing journalism students/graduates of journalism schools with one year work experience in the field of journalism.
The winners would get prize money of Rs 5,000 each, certificates and sets of journalism books. Besides, there would be two awards this year for veteran journalists of Peshawar of whom one each would be nominated for the life time achievement award, and the award for exceptional services to journalism in KP or Fata. Apart from Rahimullah Yousafzai, the committee includes Editor Dawn (North) Ismail Khan, academician and media consultant Abdullah Jan; director, Aurat Foundation, Ms. Shabina Ayaz; and chairman of the Mass Communication Department, University of Peshawar, Faizullah Jan.
The media awards, being held for the third consecutive year, have been named after Amir Ahmad Siddiqui late, a veteran journalist from Peshawar. A combined effort of his family and a group of senior journalists of Peshawar, the effort aims to encourage and promote quality and competitive journalism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata. Submissions to the contest can be electronically mailed to the following email address: aasaward2017 @gmail.com. Detailed criteria for each of the categories covered under the competition can be obtained from the president of Khyber Union of Journalists Saif-ul-Islam or from the awards' facebook page.