Finalists shortlisted
for SOPA 2015 Awards
Everybody keeps fingers crossed for ‘who-will-win-what’ at Society of Publishers in
Asia (SOPA) Awards for Editorial Excellence 2015. Honouring journalism in Asia for
the 17th year, SOPA announces the shortlisted finalists who will be conferred on the
prestigious awards at a grand ceremony to be held at Hong Kong Convention and
Exhibition Centre on June 10, 2015.
The SOPA Awards attracted
a record number of entries
across Asia, which were
rigorously assessed by a panel
of more than 100 judges from
around the world that include
journalists, editors and columnists
from leading publications and
notable academics from the
media departments of prestigious
universities. The SOPA Awards for
Editorial Excellence are stepping
in the 17th year to honour the
outstanding achievements and
contributions of distinguished
media practitioners.
Having been widely regarded as one of the most prestigious
awards in the publishing industry, SOPA Awards are clustered
in different categories covering entire length and breadth of the
Asian news media world. This year, 18 categories reflect Asia-
Pacific’s vibrant editorial scene. Each category is divided into
three groups according to the circulation, region of publication
and language. In addition,
the new award categories
added last year, including the
‘Excellence in Digital News’
will also continue in the
SOPA 2015 Awards to reveal the
influence of the increasingly
digital-savvy publishing world.
The SOPA 2015 Awards for
Editorial Excellence is supported
by Invest Hong Kong (Platinum
Sponsor) and Google (Silver
Sponsor). K11 is the Supporting
Sponsor. CatchOn is the public
relations partner, and Media
OutReach is the newswire partner.
A seminar on Best Practices in Reporting in Asia featuring top
journalists is going to be organised on the morning of the awards
at JMSC, Hong Kong University. Speakers will include Pulitzer
Prize winning Keith Bradsher of The International New York
Times, and distinguished writers and editors from The Wall Street
Journal, Quartz and Common Wealth.
The finalists for the SOPA 2015 Awards
for Editorial Excellence are shortlisted as under:
Excellence in Reporting on Women’s Issues
Group A: Bloomberg LP, India Maternal Failure;
The International New York Times, Dispatches
from China; The Wall Street Journal Asia, ‘No
Good Choices: A Maid’s Fight for Justice.’
Group B: MINT Live, Human Trafficking Series;
Time Out Hong Kong, The Other Women; The
Jakarta Globe, For Victims of Indonesia’s
1965 Communist Purge, No Anger, But the
Suffering Lingers.
Group C: Apple Daily; Today,
Conquer three enemies being your own master:
powerful roses.
Excellence in Digital News
Group A: The International New York Times,
“Searching for Burmese Jade, and Finding
Misery” with the Video Feature, “Jade’s Journey
Marked By Drugs and Death”; The Wall Street
Journal Asia, City of Imagination: The Kowloon
Walled City; The Wall Street Journal Asia, Open
Sesame: Peering Inside Alibaba.
Group B: Caixin.com, Zhou’s Power Base; South
China Morning Post, Voices from Tiananmen:
Eyewitnesses look back to the spring of 1989;
The Straits Times, Ocean’s Fury: Are we ready?
Group C: CommonWealth Magazine Group/
Cheers Magazine, Popular services industry;
Caixin.com, Zhou’s Power Base.
Excellence in Human Rights Reporting
Group A: The International New York Times,
The Ballad of Zakia and Mohammad; The
International New York Times, The Plight of
the Rohingya of Myanmar; The Wall Street
Journal Asia, “No Good Choices:” A Maid’s
Fight for Justice.
Group B: MINT, Why Dutee
Chand Can Change Sport; Myanmar Times,
Medical gap threatens lives in Rakhine; The
Edge Review, Easy Prey.
Group C: Apple Daily;
Business Weekly, 18 Doctors Denunciation: Don’t
Sacrifice Human Lives; Ming Pao.
Excellence in Feature Writing
Group A: Bloomberg Businessweek, Cash Pads:
Chinese Money Transforms a California Suburb;
Bloomberg LP, Operation Yellowbird; Reuters,
Exposing Asia's brutal slave trade.
Group B:
COCONUTS MEDIA, Hidden in Plain Sight;
Post Magazine, “Til death do us part?’ Prestige
Hong Kong, A Suitable Boy.
Group C: 30, The
Giver; Business Weekly, Invisible Home Care
>> 2.2 Million People Resign Storm; Ming
Pao Weekly.
Excellence in Magazine Design
Group A: (cancelled)*.
Group B: Design 360o
– Concept and Design Magazine, Design 360o
Magazine: No.50 – Design Manifesto; Priority;
Tasting Kitchen, TK13 Fruits Flowers & Bugs.
Group C: Leap, First Class; Life Magazine,
Next To Bugs; The Outlook Magazine, Tokyo,
Volume I.
Excellence in Lifestyle Coverage
Group A: Reuters, Everest tragedy exposes
big business behind noble pursuit; TIME, The
Xinjiang Sound; TIME, China’s Road Show.
Group B: South China Morning Post, Roam
and board; The Phnom Penh Post, Reign of the
quiet king; The Phnom Penh Post, Cockfight
Kingdom.
Group C: CommonWealth Magazine/
Cheers Magazine, The lifestyle after working;
Lohas Magazine, Food and Ware; The Outlook
Magazine.
Excellence in Explanatory Reporting
Group A: Reuters, Beijing’s stealthy advance
towards Greater China; The International New
York Times, Dissecting China’s Anticorruption
Campaign; The Wall Street Journal Asia, Deep
Threat: China’s Submarines Add Nuclear-Strike
Capability, Altering Strategic Balance.
Group B: International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists in partnership with Ming Pao,
People’s Republic of Offshore or China Leaks;
The Edge Review, Coup Confusion in Thailand;
The Straits Times, Little India Riot: One year
later.
Group C: Business Weekly, Reveal Ko
Wen-Je’s Limited Corporation; Business Weekly,
Disclosure of Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade
in Services; CommonWealth Magazine.
Excellence in News Photography
Group A: Bloomberg, Pro-Democracy Protests in
Hong Kong; Reuters, The Umbrella Man; TIME,
The Rohingya, Burma’s Forgotten Muslims.
Group B: COCONUTS MEDIA, The Umbrella
Movement; Philippine Daily Inquirer, Home
Street Home; South China Morning Post, Occupy
in pictures.
Group C: Business Weekly, Get
Along with Vietnam Tiger; Ming Pao, Ming Pao.
Excellence in Business Reporting
Group A: Bloomberg Businessweek, The
Chinese government is getting rich selling
cigarettes; Reuters, Takata’s deadly air bags;
The International New York Times, Alibaba and
“The Jack Ma Way.”
Group B: International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists in
partnership with Ming Pao, People’s Republic
of Offshore or China Leaks; Lloyds List, The
hidden loans that sank Nanjing Tanker; MINT,
The Nokia Story.
Group C: CommonWealth
Magazine, CommonWealth Magazine; Today,
Taiwan’s golden pastry legend.
Excellence in Information Graphics
Group A: (cancelled)*.
Group B: South China
Morning Post, The height of social values;
South China Morning Post, Dead in life, alive
in death; The Star, The MH17 Tragedy.
Group C: CommonWealth Magazine; Sing Tao Daily,
Flood Relief System; The Outlook Magazine,
Japanese Survive.
Excellence in Reporting Breaking News
Group A: Bloomberg LP, Sewol Disaster;
Reuters, Hong Kong’s ‘Umbrella Revolution’;
The International New York Times, Hong
Kong Protests.
Group B: South China Morning
Post, Occupy; The Phnom Penh Post, Deadly
crackdown; The Phnom Penh Post, HIV outbreak.
Group C: Apple Daily, Today, Cost for earning
one more dollar margin; Yazhou Zhoukan,
Labour strike at the largest shoe-making factory
in the world and the problems of immigrant
worker welfare.
Excellence in Opinion Writing
Group A: Bloomberg LP, Mishra – View;
Financial Times, Life in China; Financial Times,
India’s 2014 election.
Group B: Nikkei Asian
Review, Thitinan Pongsudhirak; The Jakarta
Globe, Endorsing Jokowi; The Jakarta Post,
Outstanding editorial coverage by the Jakarta
Globe.
Group C: Bloomberg Business Week,
China; Financial Times, The Third Road Xi’s
Taking; Financial Times, Deng: The Doors He
Opened and the Windows He Closed.
Excellence in Editorial Cartooning
Group A: (cancelled)*,
Group B: South China
Morning Post, Occupy (according to Harry);
The Straits Times, Lessons for small states from
Ukraine; The Straits Times, The soft containment
of Russia.
Group C: Headline Daily, Go Go
Go, Ming Pao, Ming Pao.
Excellence in Reporting on the Environment
Group A: Bloomberg LP, The bleakest side of
India’s modernisation; Reuters, In Jakarta, that
sinking feeling is all too real; The Associated
Press, Asbestos threat in India.
Group B: Nikkei Asian Review, A future in
drought; Thomson Reuters Foundation, Water
Shortages in India; Time Out Hong Kong,
Reclaiming Hong Kong.
Group C: Apple Daily;
CommonWealth Magazine; Ming Pao Weekly.
Excellence in Feature Photography
Group A: The International New York Times,
The Plight of the Rohingya; TIME, The World’s
Most Dangerous Room; TIME, Banish the Night.
Group B: Myanmar Times, The Magwe oil
fields; Tasting Kitchen, Refined by Time; Time
Out Hong Kong, The Forgotten Cost of Domestic
Help.
Group C: Modern Weekly, The Copied
Architecture; The Outlook Magazine, Special Issue
of Tokyo, Volume I; Today, Manor of Human.
The Scoop Award
Group A: Bloomberg LP, Japan Child Porn;
Bloomberg LP, Deleting Drug Tests; Reuters,
Closing in on Zhou’s circle.
Group B: GlobalPost,
South Korea pulled strings as Cambodia’s
military cracked down on protesters; Nikkei
Asian Review, San Miguel proposes $10B
airport for Manila; South China Morning Post,
Crackdown in Macau.
Group C: Apple Daily; Business Weekly; Hard
Choices: Reliance on China makes Taiwan
Vulnerable; Ming Pao.
Excellence in Investigative Reporting
Group A: Bloomberg LP, The bleakest side
of India’s modernisation; Financial Times,
China in Africa: How Sam Pa became the
middleman; The International New York Times,
Behind the sinking of the Sewol.
Group B:
Lloyds List, The hidden loans that sank
Nanjing Tanker; Malaysiakini, The rise of
the Johor royal family’s business empire; The
Phnom Penh Post, The calculus of logging.
Group C: Apple Daily. CommonWealth
Magazine, SOS, Ming Pao, BVI.
Journalist of the Year Nancy Carvajal (Philippine Daily Inquirer);
Jonah M Kessel (The International New York
Times); Hannah Beech (TIME)
(The categories marked ‘cancelled’ were due to
not receiving more than five entries.)
Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) was founded in the year 1982 to promote both
publishers and local representatives of foreign publishers present locally in Asia, with
a view to foster better cooperation and understanding among members. The society
is based in Hong Kong, representing international, regional and media companies in
the city and around Asia. The annual SOPA Awards for Editorial Excellence is to
set world-class benchmarks for journalism in Asia.
