The Department of Journalism of the School of Communication invited seven winners of the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Awards for Editorial Excellence, the Asian media industry’s most prestigious journalism award, to participate in the HKBU-SOPA Award Winners Forum from 23 to 27 October. Through a public forum, class sharing and group discussions, they shared their hands-on journalism experience in the digital age with students, University members, media professionals and the public.

The invited speakers were:
• Mr Aun Pheap,
Senior Reporter of The Cambodia Daily and winner of Excellence in Investigative Reporting award 2017;

• Ms Nita Bhalla,
Chief Correspondent in South Asia of Thomson Reuters Foundation and winner of Journalist of the Year 2017 ;

• Ms Cheng Han-wen,
Journalist of The Reporter and winner of Excellence in Investigative Reporting Award 2017;

• Ms MinJung Kim,
Head of Visuals (Asia) of The Wall Street Journal and winner of Excellence in Digital News Award 2016 ;

• Ms Preetika Rana,
Asia Corporate Reporter of The Wall Street Journal and winner of Excellence in Video Reporting Award 2017;

• Ms Wei Meng,
Data Visualisation Designer of Caixin Media and winner of Excellence in Journalistic Innovation Award 2017;

• Ms Huang Chen,
leader of Data Visualisation Lab of Caixin Media and winner of Excellence in Journalistic Innovation Award 2017.

Ms S K Witcher, Chair of the SOPA 2017 Awards Editorial Committee and Deputy Asia Editor of The New York Times, and Professor Clayton MacKenzie, Provost of HKBU officiated at the opening ceremony on 24 October.

A visual journalism exhibition “Truth and Rights in a Digital World” is on display at the Koo Ming Kown Exhibition Gallery until 12 November showcasing SOPA Award-winning photos, information graphics, cartoons and virtual reality 360-degree videos from 10 international news agencies and local media outlets including Reuters, The New York Times, Frontier Myanmar and South China Morning Post.