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Meredith Chen Yuxiao wins the 2022 Mick Deane Scholarship

Meredith Chen on assignment

HKU Journalism and Asia Pacific Vision are proud to award outstanding video journalism with the Mick Deane Scholarship. This year, the award goes to Meredith Chen Yuxiao, 2022 graduate of the HKU Journalism Masters Programme. Llewellyn Cheung received an honourable mention.

“Meredith has been an outstanding student in all her classes at HKU Journalism,” says Matt Walsh, director of the Master of Journalism Programme, “so it’s no surprise that her video work would be recognized in this way. I’m sure she will carry on the spirit of the award’s namesake by continuing to be a helpful, positive influence on everyone around her.”

The award was established in honour of TV journalist Mick Deane, who was killed by a sniper’s bullet at the age of 62 while covering protests in Egypt in August 2013. The scholarship continues his spirit and legacy by granting HK$20,000 to a student who wants to excel at video or broadcast journalism, but is also generous by nature; one who shares information with others and has the potential to be a teacher and mentor.

Meredith Chen, who works as a summer intern at NBC, says, “being awarded with this scholarship, to me personally this is a really surprising and amazing experience.”

She intends to use the funds to purchase the necessary equipment to make the next steps in her career, but “more importantly, it’s providing a kind of encouragement for me.”

Getting started in video journalism can be challenging for fresh graduates, says Chen. “You are going to do a lot of assistant jobs in this career, do a lot of editing and getting practice. Sometimes thinking about this would be frustrating. Receiving this kind of scholarship is encouraging and lifts up the spirits when you are dealing with the routine work in the video newsroom.”

Chen’s first experience with video production came during her time at HKU Journalism. “I used to be a text person. I had zero experience in video. But after my very first video, I sensed the kind of magic power of talking to people behind the camera.”

“It’s a very different perspective, like a combination of intimacy and distance. Your attention turns not just to the people in front of you, but also the framing of the image and what details you capture. The image in front of you starts to have different layers and you can switch your perspective.”

“After I produced several stories I started to feel there’s a special connection between video and me.”

Mark Erder of Asia Pacific Vision: “Meredith is a worthy recipient of what could sadly be the final Mick Deane Scholarship. She impressed me with her choice of subject matter, originality and technical confidence. And her personal film was pure poetry. She has the curious mind that will make her an excellent journalist.”

Since the scholarship was established, eight promising young journalists were granted the funds to kick-start their career in video journalism. Their testimony is included in the video below. In order to give the next generation of students the same opportunity to continue Mick’s legacy, we need your support. Please visit this page to find out how you can donate to the fund. We hope we can count on your contribution to his memory.