New | HKTV’s Ricky Wong wins big in annual Icon of the Year poll
Ricky Wong named Man of the Year as CY Leung picks up Gaffe of the Year award
Hong Kong Television Network chief Ricky Wong Wai-kay has dominated RTHK's Icon of the Year poll, claiming three prizes as he continues his fight for a free-to-air television licence.
A total of 21,071 votes were cast online for eight categories in the annual survey organised by RTHK Radio 2 earlier this month.
"I would not choose myself. It should be [US National Security Agency whistle-blower] Edward Snowden … What he has done had an impact on the entire world. Even my mother asked me who he was," Wong said before the results were announced.
But it turned out Wong clinched the top prize in the Man of the Year category, with 51.5 per cent of the votes. Snowden came in second with 27.4 per cent.
Wong's winning streak did not end there. He also won Quote of the Year for his remark "Who rules - the law, the policies, or the chief executive?"
He made the comment in October after the government declined to grant his HKTV a free-to-air television licence. The runner-up prize went to Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah, for saying in March "I am also middle class".
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying was bestowed the Gaffe of the Year award, ahead of disgraced former graft-busters chief Timothy Tong Hin-ming and TVB Jade personality Nat Chan Pak-cheung.
Chan made the news recently after he vowed to crawl home on his knees if TVB's anniversary gala garnered fewer than 200,000 viewers.
HKTV employees and supporters won the People of the Year award, followed by the student activists of Scholarism, and then the dockers who went on strike in March.
"I hope Hong Kong people can pay more attention to labour rights … I think workers' voices have grown stronger after the strike," said unionist Stanley Ho Wai-hong, the leader of the 40-day walkout at the Kwai Tsing container terminal.
Primary school teacher Alpais Lam Wai-sze, who verbally abused policemen over their handling of a Falun Gong protest in Mong Kok, was elected Woman of the Year.
She was followed by student Tsang Tsz-kwan, who excelled in the Diploma of Secondary Education examinations despite her visual and hearing impairments.
