SOPA 2019 Journalism Awards Attract Over 800 Entries From Across Asia

HONG KONG,March 25,2019 -- The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA),a Hong Kong-based not-for-profit organisation,today announced that media organisations across Asia have submitted more than eight hundred entries in English and Chinese for the SOPA 2019 Awards for Editorial Excellence.

For the second year running SOPA award entries have topped eight hundred,reflecting how the awards are now widely recognised as a world-class benchmark for best practices in journalism in Asia Pacific. The finalists will be announced in early May,with the winners announced at the SOPA Awards Gala Dinner on May 29 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The gala dinner will feature a panel discussion on #MeToo,a movement that encourages victims of sexual harassment to make their voice heard and highlight the prevalence of the issue.

The panel will be moderated by Jodi Schneider,co-leader of Bloomberg's Women's Voices project in Asia. Jodi will be joined by Sandhya Menon,a high-profile journalist and #MeToo campaigner in India,Emily Steel,a Pulitzer-winning journalist at The New York Times who helped uncover allegations surrounding former Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly,and Fiona Nott,CEO of The Women's Foundation,which works to improve equality for women in Hong Kong.

"It is great to see a high number of entries again this year. This reflects the value the media attaches to winning a SOPA award. This year,we are hosting a panel on #MeToo because it is an important,developing social issue which requires further attention and debate," said Cliff Buddle,Editor,Special Projects,at the South China Morning Post and Chair of the SOPA Editorial Committee.

The SOPA 2019 Awardswill see media compete in 17 categories including the SOPA Award for Public Service Journalism,Excellence in Business Reporting and Excellence in Feature Writing.

SOPA also announced that Facebook and the Google News Initiative would once again be Platinum sponsors for the SOPA 2019 Awards. FleishmanHillard,PR Newswire and High Technology Printing Group provide SOPA with support respectively on public relations,newswire and printing services.

2019 Award Categories

Excellence in Reporting on Women's Issues

Excellence in Journalistic Innovation

Excellence in Video Reporting

Excellence in Human Rights Reporting

Excellence in Feature Writing

Excellence in Magazine Design

Excellence in Arts & Culture Reporting

Excellence in Explanatory Reporting

Excellence in Business Reporting

Excellence in Information Graphics

Excellence in Reporting Breaking News

Excellence in Opinion Writing

Excellence in Reporting on the Environment

Excellence in Photography

The Scoop Award

Excellence in Investigative Reporting

SOPA Award for Public Service Journalism

Gala dinner tickets are now available at http://www.sopawards.com,with early-bird tickets available until the end of March. For corporate tables of 12 seats,bookings should be made through the SOPA Secretariat (contact information below).

About SOPA

The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) was founded in 1982 to champion freedom of the press,promote excellence in journalism and endorse best practices for all local and regional publishing platforms in the Asia-Pacific region. SOPA is a not-for-profit organization based in Hong Kong and representing international,regional and local media companies across Asia. The Society of Publishers in Asia is also host to the prestigious annual SOPA Awards for Editorial Excellence,which serve as the world-class benchmark for quality journalism in the region. www.sopasia.com; www.sopawards.com; SOPA LinkedIn.

Press release prepared on behalf of SOPA by FleishmanHillard and distributed by PR Newswire.

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