SINGAPORE - The Straits Times emerged a big winner on Thursday, clinching most of the prizes at the Singapore Press Holdings' annual awards ceremony for its English/Malay/Tamil Media (EMTM) group.
It won 12 out of 19 awards recognising its work in news and feature stories, infographics as well as visuals and digital packages.
ST senior writer Wong Kim Hoh, 54, was named Journalist of the Year for his work including the It Changed My Life interview series in The Sunday Times, which tells the stories of everyday people doing extraordinary things.
Mr Nirmal Ghosh, 56, who is the ST's Indochina Bureau Chief and based in Bangkok, and Malaysia Correspondent Shannon Teoh, won Story of the Year. Their winning story uncovers a scandal involving a Swiss man who blackmailed his former employer PetroSaudi then tried to sell data which he stole from the company to a group who intended to use it to topple Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Executive photojournalist Alphonsus Chern, 36, became the second person in the history of the EMTM group's annual awards to score a hat-trick in the same year.
He won Feature Picture of the Year for his photograph of the Black Knights - the Republic of Singapore Air Force aerobatics team - flying in formation over the South China Sea.
Chern and fellow photojournalist Ng Sor Luan also won the Best Video of the Year with Trailing the Knights, a behind-the-scenes look at the team's training. He also won the Best Interactive Infographics for a piece that took readers through a virtual tour of the National Gallery Singapore.
The Straits Times also swept the multimedia awards, including the Best Cross Media Story of the Year and Best Digital Package for its coverage on the late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.
The New Paper won four awards - Young Journalist of the Year, which went to infographics journalist Billy Ker, Illustration of the Year, Best Video of the Year and the Special Award for Excellence in Teamwork.
The Business Times took Commentary/Analysis of the Year and Headline of the Year, while Berita Harian won a Special Award for Excellence in Enterprise.
