JMSC Designated Administrator of the SOPA Awards

Published by admin at 4 January 2011

The JMSC has been designated the administrator of this year's Society of Publishers in Asia Awards. Doreen Weisenhaus, Associate Professor and Director of the Media Law Project at the JMSC, has been selected as Head of Judges.

The JMSC has been designated the administrator of this year’s Society of Publishers in Asia Awards. Doreen Weisenhaus, Associate Professor and Director of the Media Law Project at the JMSC, has been selected as Head of Judges.

The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) is an organisation that is dedicated “to preserving freedom of the press in the Asia region and to ensuring that independent, quality journalism is observed, encouraged and acknowledged.”

Each year SOPA gives out Awards for Editorial Excellence. The categories are Excellence in Investigative Reporting, Reporting Breaking News, Business Reporting, Human Rights Reporting, Reporting on the Environment, Feature Writing, Opinion Writing, News Photography, Feature Photography, Special Coverage, Editorial Cartooning, Information Graphics, Newspaper Design, Magazine Design, Multimedia News Presentation, The Scoop Award, and Journalist of the Year.

As Awards’ administrator, the JMSC has prime responsibility for administering the judging process in conjunction with the Head of Judges and SOPA’s Editorial Awards Subcommittee. It is a prestigious and important role. Duties include finalising the rules and entry requirements, handling enquiries, acting as a central liaison and contact point for award participants, soliciting and establishing judging panels, managing hundreds of entries from all over Asia, and collecting and tabulating results.

“The mission of the JMSC is to pursue excellence in journalism and foster Asian voices in the international media,” said Professor Ying Chan, Director of the JMSC. “This aligns with the mission of SOPA and the search for editorial excellence of the SOPA Awards.”

“By honouring editorial excellence in Asia, the awards encourage high standards in the continuing efforts to report and write about this very diverse and dynamic region,” said Doreen Weisenhaus, Head of the Judges.

Weisenhaus and her team are busy assembling the judging panels and receiving entries before the deadline of February 15th, 2011. The Awards Ceremony will be in June 2011; the exact date will be announced shortly.

The JMSC has enjoyed a long partnership with the SOPA Awards, including faculty members serving as Head of Judges from 2004.

For more information on the 2011 Awards, please visit the SOPA Website here.