A page design featuring Mr Donald Trump in profile, covered in some of his infamous tweets, has helped The Straits Times to come up trumps in a global design competition.
Titled "The Twitter President", it was published ahead of the United States President's inauguration in January last year and won an award of excellence after impressing judges at the Society for News Design (SND).
Another eye-catching ST page design titled "Future Perfect" - showing how Singapore could be transformed in the future - also won an award of excellence.
They were among some 5,000 entries from publications in 36 countries submitted for the SND's Best Of News Design creative competition in February.
Executive infographics journalist Chng Choon Hiong - who collaborated with digital infographics journalist Billy Ker and senior executive sub-editor Victor Ng to develop the design for "The Twitter President" - said: "We came across a certain picture of President Trump and we immediately knew that we had to capitalise on his distinctive profile. The profile is really what makes the visual arresting."
For science fiction and art fan Celestino Gulapa, working on "Future Perfect" allowed him to envision his idea of a futuristic Singapore through art.
"I always entertained this image that when Singapore builds itself to expand, it would do so vertically, because of land constraints," he said. "In a way, I saw the idea of transforming Singapore as a sci-fi topic."
The executive infographics journalist, along with deputy art editor Michael Dizon and regional correspondent Charissa Yong, put their heads together to come up with the infographics for a scenario that would fit the near future.
ST Associate Editor Lim Chuan Huat said: "We are proud that our artists and designers have once again proved that they have the talent to compete with the world's best."
During the judging of the competition, which was held in St Petersburg, Florida, 26 experts from around the globe met to pick the year's best in newspaper design, infographics and photography.
Twenty categories, including news design and photography, were included.
Thirteen gold medals, 44 silver medals, four judges' special recognitions and 961 awards of excellence were given out this year, which is the 39th edition of the competition.
