2010 Award Winners
Group A
English-language newspapers that circulate widely in three or more countries, English-language magazines with circulation greater than 50,000, English-language wire services and English-language websites with more than 5 million monthly uniques.

 

1. Excellence in Investigative Reporting

Award for Excellence

Publication:Newsweek
Entry Title:The Taliban in their own words
Journalist:Sami Yousafzai, Ron Moreau
Comments:It combined exceptional enterprise under very difficult circumstances, and used an innovative structure to present a compelling narrative on an issue of enormous importance. The underlying concept of trying to understand the enemy in an armed conflict, while maintaining the highest standards of journalistic objectivity, was imaginative and daring. This is unconventional journalism, both in style and presentation. But it's highly enterprising, and I learned a lot from it.

Honorable Mention


Publication:Financial Times
Entry Title:How China polices the internet
Journalist:Kathrin Hille
Comments:This was classic investigative work, revealing an abusive policy that a government has sought to hide. It was illuminating, and helped explain China's subsequent fracas with Google. Brilliant reporting, unique expose, good context and analysis.

2. Excellence in Reporting Breaking News

Award for Excellence

Publication: Financial Times
Entry Title:Xinjiang riots - reporting a denied conflict
Journalist: Kathrin Hille, Richard McGregor
Comments:Formidable reporting on a difficult story, giving readers a real sense of being there and understanding what was happening and why. Very strong, great analysis. Its vivid writing communicated a powerful sense of the scene and the deep emotions stirred by the violence. The coverage combined first person reporting with strong analytical writing that placed the events in historical and political context for the reader. As a whole, it was the superior entry.

Honorable Mention


Publication: International Herald Tribune
Entry Title: Unrest in Xinjiang
Journalist: Edward Wong, Andrew Jacobs, Michael Wines, Erik Eckholm, Xiyun Yang, Keith Bradsher
Comments: Excellent coverage of unfolding events with a really great follow up a month after putting this turmoil into perspective. Great combination of speed, insight and personal stories. It offers a very worthy example of how to tackle a breaking news event, taking it from early reporting on the scene to stories that step back and put the events in a deeper context.

3. Excellence in Business Reporting

Award for Excellence

Publication: TIME Asia
Entry Title:The world of China Inc.
Journalist:Hannah Beech
Comments:China is learning that it is not always welcome as an investor. A compelling look at the other side of China's push for world resource domination and prosperity and the impact of China's push into foreign investment - lots of drama and lots of minefields. Very insightful and fascinating story. Great reporting and writing. This story shed light on an issue that most people know only in big investment numbers.

Honorable Mention


Publication: Bloomberg Markets
Entry Title: The fall of China's billionaires
Journalist: William Mellor
Comments: Great story and a refreshing look at the way greed, corruption and government control interact in China. Got inside the "miracle" and delivered a compelling tale of avarice, corruption and the dilemma of breakneck growth. Great detail, interesting interviews. It painted a good picture of the rise and fall of the rich in China. Timely, page-turning read.

4. Excellence in Human Rights Reporting

Award for Excellence

Publication:International Herald Tribune
Entry Title:Reckoning in Cambodia
Journalist:Seth Mydans
Comments:This was a well-reserved and moving series with a lot of human interest. Illuminating articles reminded us all of the full horror of the Killing Fields.

Honorable Mention


Publication: TIME Asia
Entry Title: The new great game
Journalist:Hannah Beech
Comments:A lot of fresh material and good analysis. In-depth look at Burma's real human rights problem.

5. Excellence in Reporting on the Environment

Award for Excellence

Publication: International Herald Tribune
Entry Title: Behind China's green ambition
Journalist: Keith Bradsher
Comments: This series is great both as investigative and enterprise reporting. It challenged much of the conventional wisdom about China's environmental policies, both positive and negative. It also pointed to the international relations aspects of China's drive to become a green "superpower". Absolutely excellent. Thorough, illuminating reporting requiring enterprise, intelligence, doggedness and bravery. The degree of difficulty in reporting from within China on these complex issues is always higher because of language and secrecy and journalist controls.

Honorable Mention

Publication: TIME Asia
Entry Title:A tough catch
Journalist:Krista Mahr
Comments: This is a beautifully written piece with a strong sense of the big picture as well as great enterprise reporting. Big picture approach that's admirable in its scope, its thoroughness, and its detail. Interesting characters, compelling facts, great art, and sidebar material that illustrated the issue and helped readers know what they can do about it. Took in many sources and many different locations. Examined the issue from many different angles with some analysis of the attempts at solutions.

6. Excellence in Feature Writing

Award for Excellence

Publication: International Herald Tribune
Entry Title: "Uneasy Engagement" series
Journalist:Michael Wines, Edward Wong, Sharon LaFraniere, Andrew Jacobs, Jonathan Ansfield, John Grobler, Steven Erlanger
Comments: Great conception, reporting and vivid feature writing. Outstanding breadth, scope and writing. Excellent depiction of the darker side of what initially seemed a rosy picture. Showed that everything has consequences, often unexpected ones.

Honorable Mention


Publication: Financial Times
Entry Title:Where Africa goes to buy its mobile phones
Journalist:Peter Shadbolt
Comments:Love this! What a place! What a business. Wish I had some pictures. Nice new economic angle to familiar topic. This is a superb classic feature that had focus and breadth, entertaining as well as informative, and beautifully captured a slice of Hong Kong.

7. Excellence in Opinion Writing

Award for Excellence

Publication:Newsweek
Entry Title: Learning to live with radical Islam
Journalist:Fareed Zakaria
Comments:Excellent and highly relevant to Asia. Fascinating insights, including the Asian countries in the frontline of one of the most crucial issues affecting the world.

Honorable Mention


Publication:International Herald Tribune
Entry Title:Letter from India
Journalist: Akash Kapur
Comments:Brilliant accounts of developments in modern India. Fascinating insider's perspective on a fast-changing country.

8. Excellence in Feature Photography

Award for Excellence

Publication: Reuters
Entry Title: Heading home
Journalist: Andrew Biraj
Comments: A courageous photo that cannot fail to move the reader. Implies so much. Extremely powerful and thought-provoking. Clean, strong, striking.

Honorable Mention

Publication:Discovery Channel Magazine
Entry Title: The honey hunters
Journalist:Charles Pertwee
Comments:A strong commitment to getting an unusual story and an interesting subject. Variety - light and overall difficulty.

9. Excellence in Special Coverage

Award for Excellence

Publication:Financial Times
Entry Title: Japan: Technology & investment
Journalist:Robin Harding, Jonathan Soble, Lindsay Whipp, Michiyo Nakamoto, Mure Dickie
Comments:The stand out of the category. Well thought out, well reported, well executed and well done! Strong package with a good mix of serious and amusing insights; an eye-opening reminder of the surprisingly various technological strengths of an economy too often dismissed as stodgy and stagnant. I appreciated the attention to detail and how each detail provided insight into a country that is easily misunderstood by itself as well as the world-at-large. The reporting is enviable.

Honorable Mention


Publication:International Herald Tribune
Entry Title: Fashion, sustainability and luxury in India
Journalist:Suzy Menkes, Anand Giridharadas, Robb Young, Bandana Tewari, Liza Forman
Comments:Beautiful stories, well thought out and executed with insight. Intriguing idea. Some good pieces illuminating Indian consumer culture and nascent design industry. I was hopelessly seduced by this package. It was the attention to detail - luxury as the mother who now buys pre-cut lettuce, people who did not have air conditioning but had shawls, sustainability now as the "spirit of a sari" - that did it for me. Every story was an intoxicating read.

10. Excellence in Information Graphics

Award for Excellence

Publication: TIME Asia
Entry Title:Reaper: A new way to wage war
Journalist:Lon Tweeten
Comments:An interesting, informative, imaginative graphic that told the story for the reader who did not have time for the text. A good information illustration. Appropriate use of image with labels. The graphic was improved by adding the before & after and the map. Very clear, presented a lot of information in an easy-to-understand graphic.

11. Excellence in Magazine Design

Award for Excellence

Publication: TIME Asia
Entry Title: 1989 - The year that changed the world (Summer journey double issue)
Journalist:TIME Asia
Comments:A nice, clean layout with strong choices for images. Very consistent use of white space that makes the information easy to find and read. Excellent distribution of color and type, logical layouts, adherence to style. A powerful and cleverly paced design that draws on the full creative array -- smart illustration, intimate portraits, and informative graphics -- to deliver its message. It's a timely reminder of the creative vision that only magazines can provide.

Honorable Mention


Publication:Newsweek
Entry Title: India's bold plan
Journalist: Leah Purcell
Comments:A bold use of design for a news magazine. Nice use of value-added infographics. Clean spreads. An intelligent design, blending powerful visuals with a sharp and clean aesthetic.

12. Excellence in Multimedia News Presentation

Award for Excellence

Publication:The Wall Street Journal Asia
Entry Title: The rise of rural India
Journalist:Lam Thuy Vo, Linda Blake, Nan Wu, Adam Najberg, Paul Beckett, Eric Bellman, Anirban Roy
Comments:The team did a fantastic job in making full use of multimedia possibilities to cover various aspects of this story, looking at the implications, explaining the background. The result in short is 3D news. A very interesting and multifaceted approach to a complex story. The choice of the different stories is excellent, each shedding light on a component of the overall picture. While making full use of the multimedia elements, this story never loses sight of the art of telling a complex and compelling story. Best of the entries!

Honorable Mention

Publication:Financial Times
Entry Title: Chinese petitioners
Journalist:Jamil Anderlini, Edward Cheng
Comments:The team tackled an extremely difficult problem to report and used multimedia, particular video and text effectively to explain and illustrate. Superb in-depth reporting and excellent package construction. This is a dynamite package -- multimedia at its best. It's full of excellent information and unbelievably dramatic video. Story made good use of multimedia elements and nicely broke up the story for the reader.

13. The Scoop Award

Award for Excellence

Publication:International Herald Tribune
Entry Title: Fraying peace in Myanmar
Journalist:Thomas Fuller
Comments:Interesting work. Powerful, brave stories that informed the world of important developments from inside Burma. This is obviously a hard-earned story, made in a difficult terrain. The story unmasked Burma's diversity and complexities as a nation, and educated the world on the little-known but crucial ethnic groups in that country.

Honorable Mention


Publication:The Wall Street Journal Asia
Entry Title: China: Green dam
Journalist:Loretta Chao, Jason Dean
Comments:Important scoop that unleashed a maelstrom of reactions and results. This story stands out for 3 things: huge impact, skillful reporting in a controlled media environment, and tenacity. Good tip.

14. Journalist of the Year

Award for Excellence

Publication: Financial Times
Journalist: Jamil Anderlini
Comments: Trenchant, prescient analysis throughout, and a remarkably lucid style. The reporting is detailed, vivid and convincing. Excellent work. Delivered first-rate reporting and writing on a range of topics critical to China’s continued, and rocky, transformation to a modern nation. He has produced pieces of value to both experts and more casual observers of China. Lots of compelling evidence and peeling of layers; brings rich story telling skills that are deeply grounded in reporting and understanding of China.

 

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