GROUP B
Local newspapers or small magazines published in English

1. Excellence in Explanatory Reporting

Award: China Economic Review - "Mother of Invention" (by Tim Burroughs)

Honorable Mention: Far Eastern Economic Review - "Thailand's Rocky Road to Democracy" (by Colum Murphy)

China Economic Review: Excellent survey of China's innovation potential, which is perhaps the most important angle on China's economic future. A stellar example of regional economic analysis.

2. Excellence in Feature Writing

Award: The Straits Times - "The Hospice Care" (by Radha Basu)

Honorable Mention: DestinAsian - "Pondering Pondy" (by Stephen McClarence)

The Straits Times: A deeply moving, unflinching up-close look at people facing the end of life and those who help them. Manages to capture the poignancy of the situation without being sentimental.

3. Excellence in Human Rights Reporting

Award: The Standard - "A Killing Season" (by Lin Neumann)

Honorable Mention: The New Paper - "200 Maids in Little Shophouse of Horrors" (Cara Van Miriah, Mindy Tan, Jonathan Choo & Kenneth Koh)

The Standard: A remarkably balanced report of social and political breakdown in the rural Philippines, with reporting and access that could only come from deep knowledge and many years of exposure to the country with all its complexities and ambiguities.

4. Excellence in Special Issue/ Special Section

Award: Far Eastern Economic Review - "Book Review Series" (by Grant Evans, Peter Wonacott, Joe Cochrane, Pamela Crossley, Garry Rodan, Jonathan Mirsky, Ilaria Maria Sala, Christine Loh & Paul Vandenburg)

Honorable Mention: South China Morning Post - "Good Schools Guide" (by Katherine Forestier & Education Desk)

Comment: Very strong package of insightful reviews, providing thoughtful commentary on issues of concern in Asia.

Far Eastern Economic Review: Very strong package of insightful reviews, providing thoughtful commentary on issues of concern in Asia.

5. Excellence in Feature Photography

Award: The Standard - "Life in a Cage" (by Simon Song)

Honorable Mention: Off the Edge - "Ronggeng Revolusioner" (by Danny Lim)

The Standard: Reminds us once again of the medium's potential for shock and emotional impact.

6. Excellence in News Photography

Award: South China Morning Post - "Time's Up for the Clock Tower" (by Ricky Chung)

Honorable Mention: The Sunday Times - "Farewell to Rajaratnam" (by Joyce Fang)

South China Morning Post: Compelling news image. Each person's reaction to the situation is unique and exposed in some way through the facial or body signals which beg the viewers to further examine the image.

7. Excellence in Editorial Cartooning

Award: The Straits Times - "Taiwan Politics All About Identity" (by Prudencio Miel Jr)

Honorable Mention: South China Morning Post - "Taxing Times" (by Harry Harrison)

The Straits Times: The illustration imaginatively conveyed the essence of the accompanying article about the dilemma facing those Taiwanese who do not feel a shared destiny with the mainland. It captures the "soul" of China-Taiwan issue. The cartoon shows very clever thinking.

8. Excellence in Newspaper Design

Award: Sunday Morning Post

Honorable Mention: South China Morning Post

Sunday Morning Post: Classy design. The whole layout is clear structured, keeps good balance as well with the position of the pictures. Decent font usage, readers friendly. Very good quality of pictures.

9. Excellence in Magazine Design

Award: Designer (by Lim Wenbin)

Honorable Mention: Prestige HK (by Darren Long)

Designer: Clearly a master of its craft, Designer has a disciplined approach to creating a magazine that breathes with its flawless interplay of colors, vivacious images and provocative cover art, all without sacrificing readability. Each issue is fresh and never contrived. As magazines go, Designer is a rare medium, well done!

10. Excellence in Magazine Front Cover Design

Award: Ish

Honorable Mention: Revolution (by Sharon Tan)

Ish: A mixture of classic and modern design. Good composition and colour combination. Impressive layout with a great mixture of aged and modern elements.

11. Excellence in Business Reporting

Award: The Standard - "Dragonair Buyout" (by Alman Loong, Wong Ka-chun, Daniel Hilken, Jackie Cheung, Katherine Ng, Winnie Pang & Prudence Ho)

Honorable Mention: South China Morning Post - "Mega Resort Masu" (by Neil Gough & team)

The Standard: A strong scoop with solid follow-up reporting. After scoring a scoop on an industry-changing development and reporting a complex transaction yet to be finalized with near-accurate precision, The Standard remained on top of its game by covering the impact of the deal from all angles, using authoritative sources, and delving into the history of the players. The result is a series of reports that is not only expertly informed, but also gives life to a business transaction.

12. Excellence in Reporting on the Environment

Award: South China Morning Post - "Sick in the City" (by Robin Kwong)

Honorable Mention: The Standard - "Environment Hanging in Balance" (by Jonathan Cheng, Leslie Kwoh & Albert Wong)

South China Morning Post: A well-organized piece that brings clarity to a complex topic. Comprehensive analysis of the air pollution problem in Hong Kong with good use of statistics.

13. Excellence in Opinion Writing

Award: The Sun - "Surin's Opinion Series" (by Jacqueline Ann Surin)

Honorable Mention: Far Eastern Economic Review - "The Singapore Series" (by Hugo Restall & Garry Rodan)

The Sun: Brave opinion writer. Jacqueline Ann Surin's essays examine the cracks in Malaysia's facade of moderation. Clearly, non- Muslims, ethnic minorities and women are facing new challenges to their liberties. Ms. Surin examines them in unstinting fashion, from a perspective that is quite personal and therefore very powerful.

14. Excellence in Public Service Journalism

Award: The Sun - "Low Cost Palace" (by R. Nadeswaran & Terence Fernandez)

Honorable Mention: The Standard - "Environment Hanging in Balance" (by Leslie Kwoh, Albert Wong, Jonathan Cheng & Chester Yung)

The Sun: Fresh, ambitious reporting that made an impact on political cronyism. A tenacious piece of investigative journalism in a country where it can be difficult to do this kind of reporting.

15. Excellence in Reporting Breaking News

Honorable Mention: The Standard - "Dragonair Buyout" (by Alman Loong, Wong Ka-chun, Daniel hilken, Jackie Cheung, Katherine Ng, Winnie Pang & Prudence Ho)

16. The Scoop Award

Award: The Standard - "Dragonair Buyout" (by Alman Loong, Wong Ka-chun, Daniel Hilken, Jackie Cheung, Katherine Ng, Winnie Pang & Prudence Ho)

Honorable Mention: South China Morning Post - "China and the Church" (by Ambrose Leung)

The Standard: A strong business scoop with good historical analysis. The Standard was well ahead of the pack in reporting this eagerly-awaited takeover, one of HK's biggest of the year. A big scoop that caught the attention of media around the world.

17. Local Journalist Awards - English-language

Award: South China Morning Post (Quinton Chan)

Honorable Mention: The Sunday Times (Ben Nadarajan)

Comments: Great investigative pieces that challenge the government and reflect real digging as well as commitment to the public interest. Quinton Chan's package displayed great breadth, with a good selection of issues important both to the civic life of HK (e.g. public spending, air quality), and the personal lives of HK residents (e.g. flat size calculations). Mr. Chan also made very effective use of high-quality sources to bring out exclusive and revealing information on these issues.