Excellent Journalism Award winners named

2014-12-05

Recipients of the biannual Excellent Journalism Award were recognized Dec. 3 in Taipei City, showcasing Taiwan’s robust media development and remarkable journalists.

“The media plays a key role in social development and provides the momentum for a country to thrive,” said Huang Jong-tsun, chairman of the Taipei City-based Foundation for Excellent Journalism Award, at the presentation ceremony held at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park.

“It is important to honor these outstanding journalists for their efforts and achievements, while encouraging in-depth discussion of newsworthy issues and related government policies across a broad spectrum of areas.”

A total of 13 teams from 12 local media outlets were honored in 15 categories, including broadcasting, print press and TV reporting. Their pieces were selected from 414 submissions for the event in its 13th year. The winners were awarded trophies and shared prize money of NT$1.6 million (US$51,753).

Best Broadcast, Print Press and TV Spot News awards went to reporters of the Taipei Station of the Police Broadcasting Service, United Daily News and Public Television Service, respectively. For feature stories, top prizes each was given to staffers of Radio Taiwan International, CommonWealth Magazine and UDN TV.

Best TV Investigative Report was claimed by Da Ai Television journalists; Best Print Press International News by The Journalist magazine staff members; Best TV International News by CommonWealth TV reporters; Best Print Press News Commentary Award by Commercial Times newspersons; and Best TV Daily News Program Award by Taiwan Optical Platform personnel.

For photography achievements, Best Print Press News Photo went to Hu Ching-chou of UDN, and Best Print Press News Photo Series to Liu Tzu-cheng from Rhythms Monthly.

The 2014 Special Contribution Award was bestowed upon Feng Hsiao-fei, founder of the media outlet News and Market, in recognition of her long-term efforts to give the disadvantaged a voice through news reports.

According to Huang, though all the award recipients were praiseworthy, Best Print Press Spot News Award winner UDN deserves special credit for its report on the policies launched in August 2012 for registering actual property transaction prices.

“The story offers an in-depth analysis of how the amended Land Administration Agent Act proposed by the Legislature in January went against the spirit of the policy. It caused the Executive Yuan to overturn the amendment later that month.”

Equally striking is Best TV International News Report Award winner CommonWealth TV for carrying a story on Israel’s endeavors to prosper despite a lack of natural resources. “The report provides valuable lessons for Taiwan and countries facing similar circumstances,” Huang said.

Given the high standard of submissions in the competition, Huang said his foundation is confident the award will continue encouraging excellent reporting. “We are certain the event will attract more exceptional entries in the years to come.”

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=224884&CtNode=413)