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JMSC Alums Take SOPA Awards

Three alumni from the Journalism and Media Studies Centre were among winners of the 2014 Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Awards for Editorial Excellence, announced June 11 in Hong Kong. The awards are a recognition of excellence in both traditional and new media and are designed to encourage editorial vitality throughout the Asia region.

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Christy Choi (MJ-2011) (right)

Christy Choi (MJ-2011), with the South China Morning Post, won an award in the digital news category for “21HK: What’s in Your Water.” Choi was the reporter on the team that produced a two-part interactive series on the challenges Hong Kong faces in securing a clean water supply. “Showing what happens to (water) locally really made me sit up and pay attention,” one of the judges wrote. “It’s wonderful to see the team’s hard work and dedication acknowledged with a SOPA,” Choi said. “21HK was the first multimedia feature produced at the SCMP, but certainly not the last…The skills I picked up at the JMSC were key in making this feature happen.” Another JMSC alum, Henry Williams (MJ-2013), now Multimedia Editor with the Wall Street Journal, was also part of SCMP’s “21HK” winning team, having worked on the design and interaction for the project.

Natasha Khan

Natasha Khan (MJ-2011)

Natasha Khan (MJ-2011) took two prizes for her work with Bloomberg News. She was part of a team that won honorable mention for its series of reports, called “India’s Shame,” in the Women’s Issues category. “The in-depth, on-the ground-reporting, which is daring at times, and the comprehensive and readable results are testimony to the strength of the reporting and editing team that produced these stories,” said the judges. The same series of articles earned Khan and her colleagues a second honorable mention in the human rights category, with the judges highlighting how the stories showed a system failing to ensure some of the most fundamental and basic human rights of women in India. “I’m honored that our stories were recognized by SOPA this year. I hope that journalists will continue the important work of documenting injustices against women in the region,” said Khan. Vivian Kwok (MJ-2006), a 2011 SOPA winner for investigative reporting with the SCMP and now Editor-in-Chief and Associate Publisher of Bloomberg Businessweek (Chinese), led her publication to two SOPA honorable mentions this year in the magazine design and editorial cartooning categories. This year’s winners join a growing number of JMSC SOPA award recipients, including a Journalist of the Year award in 2010.  The JMSC has been the SOPA Awards Administrator since 2011.