Post staff lift nine prizes in Hong Kong News Awards
Writers, photographers, editors and designer among best in the city
The South China Morning Post netted nine prizes – including top awards in five categories – in the 2013 Hong Kong News Awards, hosted by the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong.
Senior reporter Lana Lam, of the Hong Kong desk, pocketed the first prize in the “best scoop” category with her exclusive interview with Edward Snowden – the whistle-blower behind the United States national security agency surveillance revelations. In the interview, the former CIA operative disclosed the US government had been hacking computers in Hong Kong and on the mainland for years.
The newspaper’s analysis editor, business, Denise Tsang, saw her analysis on gender diversity – “Engineering Change” – named the winner in the “best business news writing” category.
The second prize of the category went to SCMP business news editor Debasish Roy Chowdhury for his piece “China Firms Power Rising Indian Empire”, about the rise of Chinese players in the Indian power industry.
Post photographers Sam Tsang and David Wong won the first prize in the “feature” and “sport” categories respectively.
Tsang’s picture, titled “Don’t look up”, shows some mainland tourists posing for pictures in front of a huge outdoor banner with an image of the Hong Kong Island skyline under a clear blue sky, in contrast with the real situation in which the city was trapped in heavy pollution.
Wong’s picture, “On the ball”, freezes the critical moment during a local match when Royal Southern’s Jonathan Carril was about to shoot the ball, with Sun Pegasus’s Igor Mivoic looking on.
Graphic designer Adolfo Arranz won the first prize in the “best news page design” category for his “City of Anarchy” infographic – about the Kowloon Walled City, demolished in the 1990s, that featured a building with cut-out sides showing how people lived in their flats.
Sub-editors Jim McGhee and Colleen Thomson jointly won the second prize in the “best English headline” category, with the headline “Pandora’s Xbox of Security Fears”.
Andrea Chen of the China desk was named second runner-up in the “best English news writing” category for her piece “Cruel Harvest”, about angora fur harvesting in China.
Post senior writer Oliver Chou won a merit prize in the “best arts and culture news reporting” for his piece “Comparing notes”, about the concert tour of the Philadelphia Orchestra in China to mark the 40th anniversary of its first performances on Chinese soil.
The Hong Kong News Awards was organised annually by the Newspaper Society, of which the South China Morning Post is a member.
