SPH Media scores with 2 golds, 2 silvers at Asian Media Awards

When five people died in a car crash in Tanjong Pagar on the second day of Chinese New Year in February last year, a team of Straits Times reporters raced to the scene.

They fanned out across the area starting from the wee hours of the morning, speaking to bystanders and residents, to try to piece together an account of the crash.

For their work, The Straits Times won the gold award at the World Association of News Publishers' (Wan-Ifra) Asian Media Awards yesterday.

At about 5.40am on Feb 13 last year, a BMW M4 crashed into a Tanjong Pagar shophouse and burst into flames. All five men in the car died. Mr Jonathan Long Junwei, 29, was the driver, and those with him were Mr Eugene Yap Zheng Min, 29, Mr Elvin Tan Yong Hao, 28, Mr Teo Qi Xiang, 26, and Mr Gary Wong Hong Chieh, 29.

First on the scene was ST crime correspondent David Sun, who had a tip-off about the crash and was at the accident site at about 6am.

Mr Sun, 29, said he remembers hearing people wailing, and a "lingering smell from the explosion".

Other reporters from the paper joined him soon after, working under pressure to gather as much information as they could about the crash and the victims, and keeping readers updated with rolling news coverage.

The accident quickly became the biggest story of the day, with videos of the crash widely distributed on social media platforms.

There were many unanswered questions: Who were the victims? And in the videos online, who was the woman running into the fire?

Tamil Murasu deputy news editor Irshath Mohamed, who was on duty that day at the SPH Media Trust sister publication, and ST multimedia correspondent Cheow Sue-Ann also arrived at the site.

ST journalist Ng Wei Kai, transport correspondent Kok Yufeng and others worked remotely to trace the victims' identities, which the police had not disclosed at the time. They trawled through social media accounts, talked to victims' friends and family, and cross-checked information with the police.

That was how ST found out the woman who ran into the fire was Mr Long's fiancee, Ms Raybe Oh Siew Huey, 26. The former air stewardess was trying to save Mr Long but was badly burned as a result.

Working through the public holiday, various desks in the newsroom pulled together to provide a detailed account of the tragedy.

Mr Kok, 31, said: "We tried to be as sensitive as we could while reporting the story and gathering as much information on the accident as possible."

In the aftermath, the coverage of the accident helped to inform a public discussion on key issues for several weeks, including a debate on safe driving and road design.

The Straits Times also took home a silver award in the Best Sports Photography category, for ST chief photojournalist Kevin Lim's double exposure portrait of swimmer Quah Ting Wen and her diary entry dated May 23, 2016.

SPH Media Trust's Chinese Media Group also bagged a gold and a silver award. In the Sports Photography category, Lianhe Zaobao won gold for an entry titled "First Singaporean Female Diver at Olympics".

Lianhe Wanbao bagged a silver for "The Great Migration: Getting Readers of Lianhe Wanbao to Migrate to Shinmin", in the Newspaper Marketing category.

The annual Wan-Ifra Asian Media Awards recognises the best work by Asian media firms in the fields of newspaper and magazine design, infographics, editorial content and marketing, among others.