Group B is for local newspapers or small magazines published in English

1. Excellence in Explanatory Reporting

Honorable Mention: Far Eastern Economic Review - "Pakistan's Last Bid for Democracy"

Comment: Excellent piece of explanatory reporting, does great job explaining the intricate of Pakistan politics.

Award: Muse Magazine - "Too Close for Comfort": Why Don't Local Galleries Find Local Art Viable?

Comment: Well Written and Vivid

2. Excellence in Feature Writing

Honorable Mention: DestinAsian - "Spirits of the Forest"

Comment: A finely crafted examination of a disappearing tribe in Thailand's far north. The reporter does an excellent and sensitive job of showing not just how life is changing for these people but also how those people have changed the missionary who arrived to convert them 20 years ago.

**There are two awards presented at this category.

Award 1: The Straits Times - "Hainan's Missing Girls"

Comment: A moving series of articles about a crucial issue for China and many other Asian countries: a heavy and growing demographic tilt toward boys. Tan has done excellent on-the-ground reporting and shows why this is happening and what effect it's having on communities in Hainan. Good use of statistics and demographic experts. Excellent supporting photos by Wang Hui Fen.

Award 2: The Standard - "Horrors of Hongwei"

Comment : A masterful tale of tragedy in modern China, beautifully written. This is an impressive effort to investigate a harrowing instance of the health costs of pollution in a pattern that has been repeated across China, where industrial development has transformed former agricultural land and farmers are among the chief victims. The reporter was honest enough to reveal the ambiguities of the situation in Hongwei, and compassionate enough to try to get practical legal help for the people he writes about.

3. Excellence Human Rights Reporting

Honorable Mention: South China Morning Post - "Death in Thailand"

Comment: Important issue highlighted with effective and clear writings

Award: The Standard - "Horrors of Hongwei"

Comment: Great focus on people to tell this important story.

4. Excellence in Special Issue/ Special Section

Honorable Mention: Far Eastern Economic Review - "Book Review"

Comment: Packed with detailed information.

Award: The Straits Times, Saturday Special Report - "Why leave? It's the only way"

Comment: Superb Analysis of a serious social issue, with vivid persistent reporting.

5. Excellence in Feature Photography

Honorable Mention: DestinAsian - "Kolkata at the Crossroads"

Comment: Great tone of color

Award: DestinAsian - "Papua Untamed"

Comment: Beautiful photo series with excellent color and perfect compose. A mixture of exquisite, perception and tension. Incredible images of this marvelous place.

6. Excellence in News Photography

Honorable Mention: Philippine Daily Inquirer - "Hostage Crisis / Lanao Elections / Wall Collapses in Antipolo / Makati Mutiny"

Comment: Overall, the photographers judged the right chance to shoot the impressive images. Powerful photos of powerful event.

Award: South China Morning Post - "Pain at Queen's Pier"

Comment: The photographer is very clever and clam to capture such an evocative moment in a critical situation. The picture is word a thousand word. A potent image that effectively encapsulates the drama and emotion of the people.

7. Excellence in Editorial Cartooning

Honorable Mention: The Straits Times - "Turning the bowl upside down / Myanmar monks take on junta / Suspend Myanmar from Asean / Coordinated engagement as a way forward / How Charter can be good for Asean"

Comment: Prudencio Miel tells his stories effectively through simple cartoons that convey powerful messages and are wickedly funny.

Award: South China Morning Post - "Harry's View Election Special"

Comment: Hilarious, and demonstrate high thorough understanding of the idiosyncrasies of Hong Kong's election process.

8. Excellence in Newspaper Design

Honorable Mention: Sunday Morning Post - "Sunday Morning Post"

Comment: Clean and clear, and good use of pictures. The HK 10 years' anniversary supplement is particularly good.

Award: The Edge Financial Daily - "Ekovest plans RM19b waterfront city / Malaysia a safe haven / This year in REVIEW……"

Comment: Clean and attractive layout - very inviting; bold, clear design, innovative use of color, especially on the market data pages

9. Excellence in Magazine Design

Honorable Mention: ish - "Journey To The End of the Night / To See A World In a Grain of Sand / I Am Not Yours"

Comment: The designer has a good sense of integrate graphic into layout, which create a modern, stylish atmosphere through the magazine. Also good understanding of the pictures when layouting them.

Award: WestEast Magazine - "WestEast Magazine #21 - SKIN / #22 - West Coast East Coast / #23 - DREAMS"

Comment: Artistic, stylish and elegant. Good consistency and usage of the colors, fonts and pictures. Highly readability, simple elegant design.

10. Excellence in Magazine Front Cover Design

Honorable Mention: AsianInvestor - "The battle for Japan's Beatles generation"

Comment: AsianInvestor used modest production values and a single bold idea to produce a visually arresting cover that immediately told their story for them. A great conceptual cover for a very tough topic to illustrate. The dark tone embodies the great trouble of Beatles Generation.

Award: Post Magazine - "One Man's Meat"

Comment: Simple but strongly illustrate the story. Nice placement of cover lines. Stunning Illustration sketches the horror of dolphin hunting.

11. Excellence in Business Reporting

Honorable Mention: China Economic Review - "Starting Afresh"

Comment: An admirably clear explanation of the development of China's corporate bond market, with enlightening insights on the bureaucratic actors behind the policy shifts and their interests. A fine example of how to write and present an article on what could have been a dry and complex topic.

Award: South China Morning Post - "Risky Business: Gaming in Macau and Beyond"

Comment: Demonstrated superb investigative and analytical skills. His Edmond Ho expose was a classic scoop. Impressive in both its breadth and depth, from economic of junket operators to the ties that bind the territory's most powerful politicians and businessmen.

12. Excellence in Reporting on the Environment

Honorable Mention: The Straits Times - "Straits Times Special on Climate Change"

Comment: A great series. It was well written, beautifully illustrated and packed with facts and on the ground insights into the lives of those affected by global warming. A competent and colorfully written series. Good pictures as well.

Award: South China Morning Post - "Xiamen's Chemical Reaction"

Comment: Solid reporting supported by interviews with experts, residents and government officials. Strong and in-depth analysis explains how the local government ignored environmental problem and public safety to achieve GDP growth and political benefit. Hard hitting reporting. The reporter found a story that mattered, chased it, researched it, probed and stuck with it to the end. A fine piece of investigative reporting - picked all the boxes.

13. Excellence in Opinion Writing

Honorable Mention: The Sun - "CITIZEN NADES"

Comment: A strong series of stories taking government to task in a country where the press has to tread carefully.

Award: South China Morning Post - "Monitor"

Comment: The reporter makes a powerful case that a proposed rail merger championed by the Hong Kong Government and big business trampled on the interests of minority shareholders.

14. Excellence in Public Service Journalism

Honorable Mention: The Sun - "Sports centre plan stalled / Nothing to show yet / High obsession with training center /Centre of many no's / Mystery of the missing hostels /Come clean on public money spent/ Flawed grounds for having kicks/ Council says 'no'"

Comment: It's fairly unusual to see a Malaysia state paper pursue anything remotely embarrassing to the government there. It was surprised to see a correspondent sent all the way to Britain to pursue a misuse of government funds case, to say the least! It was heartening to see a tangible result from the reporting. The fact that the paper pursued the matter over a long period of time: 2 years. Sun Media's hammering on the misuse of public money, a worthy topic, the journalism might be a bit ahead of the Inquirer's but still struck me as a lot of sound and fury about a project that on the Malaysian corruption scale probably doesn't even register.

Award: MINT - "Fake Drugs"

Comment: Very impressed reporting, especially given that the reporter pursued the story over a matter of months, and covered all angles -- the regulator, the government, and the drug companies. It's a public health issue that tangibly affects thousands of people, both in India and abroad. And the reporter's tenacity forced the government to acknowledge the problem. Also engagingly written and clearly presented. Show tremendous determination over time to deal with an issue fundamental to human health: Drug safety. While the opening article was impressive in breadth and sweep, it stands out as the reporter determined to follow-up the story again and again until the government finally was forced to comment.

15. Excellence in Reporting of Breaking News

Honorable Mention: Philippine Daily Inquirer - "World watched drama / Sidebars: Two men free 26 kids after 10-hr standoff / Sir Ducat gave toys, kids thought it was a game / Ducat: not your typical hostage taker"

Comment: Riveting and comprehensive coverage of breaking news. Good coverage of gripping crime.

Award: South China Morning Post - "HKIEd Inquiry Fallout"

Comment: Very comprehensive, good analysis and presentation. Solid and thorough overview with good context and analysis.

16. The Scoop Award

Honorable Mention: South China Morning Post - "Macau Chief's Casino Stake"

Comment: Raises legitimate conflict of interest questions about how a tiny gambling enclave has been governed. A detailed investigation that must have made Edmund Ho squirm".

Award: Philippine Daily Inquirer - "Gov bares Palace payoff/ Palance fixes 190 solons; 3 more solons confirm / 'Christmas gift'"

Comment: A clear glimpse of the money-politics nexus, despite efforts of elected representatives to both obscure and justify it.