Hong Kong press award winners left in limbo as American university says it will not get involved in this year’s event

The prospective winners of a Hong Kong press group’s annual human rights media awards will be left in limbo as the American university poised to take over hosting the event will not be involved in this year’s presentation, the Post learned on Wednesday.

Arizona State University’s journalism school previously announced it would inherit the Human Rights Press Awards from Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) after the local press body scrapped the event last week.

The press club cited “significant areas of uncertainty” and the need to avoid “unintentionally” breaking the law as reasons behind its decision.

But the new head of judges at the American university’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication told the Post that it was not getting involved in the 2022 event, which had already been cancelled by the FCC, leaving the prospective awardees in limbo.

“The Cronkite School is taking over the awards from 2023, so we aren’t involved in this year’s awards,” said Professor Jeffrey Timmermans, director of the institution’s department of business journalism.

Meanwhile, FCC president Keith Richburg said the matter was already out of the press club’s hands.