12 Honours for South China Morning Post at the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Editorial Awards

HONG KONG--(Marketwire - Jun 10, 2011) - The South China Morning Post won an impressive tally of 12 honours at the 2011 Society of Publishers in Asia Awards (SOPA) for Editorial Excellence.

Topping last year's haul of 10 nods, the announcement was made last night at the annual SOPA Awards ceremony. The South China Morning Post scooped more awards than any other paper, with a total of six prizes and six honorable mentions.

The Post dominated the news photography and feature writing categories, taking both the award for excellence and the honorable mentions. Felix Wong took the top prize for his Qinghai earthquake coverage.

Ng Tse-wei and Paul Mooney's reports chronicling the case of a mainland defence lawyer won an award for excellence in human rights reporting. A series of reports on the New Territories won Cheung Chi-fai and Olga Wong the award for excellence in reporting on the environment. Naomi Rovnick's "The Rise and Fall of Taizinai" won the award for excellence in business writing and Shirley Yam won the award for excellence in opinion writing with her insights on listed companies in the mainland. Steve Ribet won the award for excellence in feature writing with his story "Death of a Tyrant" about the teenage murderer victimised by an oppressive village chief in China's Shanxi province. The seventh award was attributed to a 12^th September 2010 issue of Post Magazine for its excellence in magazine design.

In addition to honorable mentions in feature writing, photography, scoop writing and investigative reporting, the South China Morning Post also won recognition for the multi-media news presentation of its interactive eco-watchdog site CitizenMap.

Speaking on behalf of the SCMP, Cliff Buddle, Acting Editor in Chief, said, "The pursuit of editorial excellence has always been our promise to our readers, and to equal our best year ever for SOPA award wins in 2011 is a testament to the sheer hard work and dedication of our team. I am delighted they have received recognition for their perseverance."

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Company logo : http://portal.media-outreach.com/i/Download/180
Photo : Celebrating the Post's wins are (back row from left to right) social media editor Yolanda Ma; acting editor-in-chief Cliff Buddle; China editor Ting Shi; photo editor Yves Sieur; senior editor S. K. Witcher; senior art director Troy Dunkley; (front row left and right) and head of graphics Stephen Case; opinion page editor Robert Haddow. http://portal.media-outreach.com/i/Download/183

Appendix I
List of SOPA 2011 Awards won by the South China Morning Post

Excellence in Business Reporting - Award for Excellence
Publication: South China Morning Post
Title of Entry: The Rise and Fall of Taizinai
Award Recipients: Naomi Rovnick, Toh Han Shih, Lulu Chen

Excellence in Feature Writing - Award for Excellence
Publication: Post Magazine
Title of Entry: Death of a Tyrant
Award Recipients: Steven Ribet

Excellence in News Photography - Award for Excellence
Publication: South China Morning Post
Title of Entry: Qinghai Earthquake
Award Recipients: Felix Wong

Excellence in Magazine Design - Award for Excellence
Publication: Post Magazine
Title of Entry: September 12, 2010 Issue
Award Recipients: Steve Ellul

Excellence in Opinion Writing - Award for Excellence
Publication: South China Morning Post
Title of Entry: Shining a Light on China's Listed Companies
Award Recipient: Shirley Yam

Excellence in Reporting on the Environment - Award for Excellence
Publication: South China Morning Post
Title of Entry: New Territories Series
Award Recipients: Cheung Chi-fai, Olga Wong

Excellence in Multimedia News Presentation - Honorable Mention
Publication: SCMP.com
Title of Entry: CitizenMap

Excellence in Human Rights Reporting - Honorable Mention
Publication: South China Morning Post
Title of Entry: Mainland Lawyers
Award Recipients: Ng Tze-wei, Paul Mooney

Excellence in Feature Writing - Honorable Mention
Publication: Post Magazine
Title of Entry: Gathering Dust
Award Recipients: Paul Mooney, Jim Morris, Te-Ping Chen

Excellence in News Photography - Honorable Mention
Publication: South China Morning Post
Title of Entry: Discovery of the First Body in Ma Tau Wai Collapse Block
Award Recipients: Sam Tsang

The Scoop Award - Honorable Mention
Publication: South China Morning Post
Title of Entry: PLA
Award Recipient: Greg Torode

Excellence in Investigative Reporting - Honorable Mention
Publication: South China Morning Post
Title of Entry: Clubs
Award Recipient: Vivian Kwok

Appendix II
Full list of 2011 Society of Publishers in Asia Awards for Editorial Excellence

About South China Morning Post
SCMP Group Limited (SEHK: 583) is a leading newspaper and magazine publishers in Asia. Its flagship publication, South China Morning Post is Hong Kong's premier English language newspaper and has the city's most affluent and influential readership. First published in 1903, the newspaper has developed an enviable reputation for authoritative, influential and independent reporting on Hong Kong, China and the rest of Asia. Its online platform, scmp.com and its iPad™ edition reach a global audience of China watchers with daily breaking news, multimedia articles and interactive forums. Striving to maintain the highest standards among the world's quality newspapers, the South China Morning Post receives constant international recognition. It received 60 awards in 2010 for excellence in editorial, marketing and technical capability. Other publication titles of the Group include the Sunday Morning Post, Classified Post, Fuel, Jiu Jik, and the Chinese editions of Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar and CosmoGirl! magazines.