Hong Kong Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung praises winners of the 2020 Campus News Awards in a pre-recorded video. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
HONG KONG - Hong Kong Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung on Dec 24 praised winners of the annual Campus News Awards, organized by the China Daily Hong Kong Edition since 2012, for their horizons beyond their own places, while encouraging them to expand their vision across the Bay Area for career building and future life.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area provides great opportunities to seize and a broad new world to explore and build, Cheung said in a video-recorded speech to the winners from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and the mainland.
Cheung identified a thriving media environment with comprehensive scope for regional social issues reflected in the award-winning pieces.
About 2,000 students from 43 universities submitted more than 660 entries to this year’s competition.
A jury of 85 scholars, educators, and journalism professionals from the four places assessed the submissions and selected a total of 76 prizewinners in 24 categories.
Hu Zhengrong, editor-in-chief of China Education Television and one of the judges, said that this year’s entrants displayed works of an unprecedented level. He said journalism education had progressed and described the news media industry’s iterative upgrade through the extraordinary student works.
Another judge Wong Yuk-shan, the president of the Open University of Hong Kong, said that the contest gave young students a very good opportunity to understand their community.
The students have displayed sophisticated concern and great passion for the community. Many of their works are of high quality that is close to professional level, said Wong.
The COVID-19 pandemic was the inevitable focus of all entrants, with works of rich perspectives and deep thinking about this historic crisis.
At the same time, the amount of video and other new-media entries increased significantly, while the number of data journalism works rose to 30 from 20 in previous years.
Deng Haiying, 22, a first-year graduate student at Renmin University of China, and 16 schoolmates jointly won the award for Best in News Writing with a data journalism analysis of 2,286 news stories on the outbreak of the pandemic on the mainland in February. She described the award as a special recognition.
When Deng learned that their work won the approval of judges from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, she said she was encouraged to get recognition from a jury composed of people from various cultural backgrounds outside the mainland. The Campus News Awards is the only such contest for student journalists from the four places.
Published on campus media RUC News Studio, which has 130,000 followers, the group’s prize-winning report had over 340,000 views before being widely reposted on other platforms.
While data journalism focuses more on macro issues, caring about humanity is still a good tool as it can see through social phenomena, said Deng, adding that the team will continue to pursue their passion for data journalism to become more influential beyond campus.
Li Yuanhao, 20, a junior at the School of Journalism and Communication of Nanjing University, won the award for Best in News Photography with a series showing the supply of groceries and vegetables in Xi’an, Shaanxi province at the peak of the pandemic on the mainland in February.
The “unexpected” win encouraged him to keep digging for photographic stories and to reflect the lives, efforts, and spirit of ordinary people, Li said.
He also hopes that his works convey a rational understanding of society so that people don’t panic over rumors.
