At a ceremony held at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Hong Kong on Thursday night its journalists received honourable mentions - second-place awards - in the Excellence in Reporting Breaking News category and in the Excellence in Business Reporting category of the Society Of Publishers in Asia (Sopa) Awards for Editorial Excellence.

Altogether, 89 winners were picked from a field of 547 entries competing in 17 categories.

One of ST's winners was the package of five breaking news reports of the staggering results of Malaysia's 12th general election in March last year, written by the newspaper's Kuala Lumpur (KL) bureau - Carolyn Hong, Reme Ahmad and Leslie Lopez.

ST had another winner in home-based correspondent Francis Chan's report on retirees being the most vulnerable group in the Lehman Minibonds fiasco. This one, published last October, won in the business reporting category.

In a citation on the KL Bureau's work, the judges praised 'smart, balanced election reporting' which tapped into 'a range of key angles and never left the reader bored'.

KL correspondent Ms Hong, 40, said reporting on the election was about 'keeping a finger on the pulse of developments' and an ear to the ground.

'We kept our ear on the ground, and spent nearly every night at rallies to get a feel of developments,'she said.

The team worked two months flat without a break as the news poured in rapidly, said the 40-year-old. 'It was a great experience for all of us as it was really Malaysian history in the making.'

ST editor Han Fook Kwang said: 'Competing for these regional awards is a good way for newspapers like The Straits Times to benchmark its (their) work against the best in the region.'

He added that the newspaper was very proud of Mr Chan for turning the spotlight on retirees' financial vulnerability, and the KL bureau for bringing home to readers the drama of the Malaysian election.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.