Two new categories were added this year – Audio Reporting and Technology – which were won by, respectively, Project Brazen, and The Economist’s 1843 Magazine, in the global English language group. The SOPA Awards for Editorial Excellence confers prizes for “great journalism” in 20 categories, broken down into English-language global, English-language regional, and Chinese-language stories. The top overall prize – the Award for Public Service Journalism – went to The Wall Street Journal, for Of Unknown Origin, its investigation into China’s restrictions on the World Health Organization (WHO) probe into the causes of the coronavirus pandemic. “Let us not somehow imply that Asian journalism is in any way inferior to Western journalism,” warned Pereira.
She added: “I am in awe of the journalists who do this work in difficult circumstances, and in this environment.”įollowing a tumultuous 2021 for journalists in Asia – which included the coup in Myanmar, the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and crackdowns on free media in several countries – Cyril Pereira, a former chair of SOPA, was among the speakers who praised the tenacity of Asian reporters. But we’re blessed to have journalists – in many cases local journalists – who are willing to test the boundaries of those threats.” “I am in awe of the journalists who do this work in difficult circumstances, and in this environment.” - Keynote speaker Gina Chua “You can see just with general crackdowns, even without people going to jail or having their lives threatened, the space for information has narrowed in the region. “The space is getting tighter, the laws are getting more difficult – just look at Hong Kong and Myanmar, where reporters are jailed just for doing their job,” said keynote speaker Gina Chua, executive editor at global news startup Semafor. Winners of the prestigious 2022 SOPA Awards were recently announced in Hong Kong, in a gala event that recognized the 40th anniversary of the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) – as well as the courage of journalists working in Asia’s rising climate of censorship and media repression.
Global Investigative Journalism Network.