SINGAPORE - The Straits Times won an honourable mention for editorial illustration at the annual Society of Publishers in Asia (Sopa) awards on Wednesday night.
Executive artist Manuel A. Francisco received the accolade in the Excellence in Editorial Cartooning category.
His work accompanied an Opinion article about lessons that small states such as Singapore could learn from what happened in Ukraine last year.
He depicted the Ukraine flag being "unzipped" by a zipper represented by a military tank.
Judges said the illustration prompted readers to think and was executed with some degree of sophistication.
Mr Francisco, 45, who has been with the paper for eight years, said: "I wanted to present the issue in a way that's serious but with a witty touch."
Sopa gives out the awards to honour journalistic excellence in publications in Asia. This year it received more than 600 entries for 18 award categories.
The ceremony was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The Straits Times had three other finalist nominations this year.
Last year, the paper bagged three prizes for editorial illustration, opinion writing and infographic.
