THE brutal gang rape of a 23- year-old student in Delhi and her courageous battle for survival last December touched the hearts of people around the globe, especially in Singapore. Doctors at Mount Elizabeth Hospital fought to save her but she died from severe organ failure as a result of her injuries.
The Straits Times stayed with the story right from the start, providing minute-to-minute updates and cross-bureau coverage.
Last night, ST was awarded the Silver in the Best in Editorial Content/Breaking News category at the 12th Asian Media Awards. Its team comprised India Correspondent Nirmala Ganapathy, 40, photographer Desmond Lim, 31, journalist Jalelah Abu Baker, 26, and assistant foreign editor Nilanjana Sengupta, 38.
"When something significant like this happens in Asia, the ST will be there to bring the story home to our readers in Singapore and beyond," said Straits Times editor Warren Fernandez.
"Our ST team of correspondents in Singapore, India and around the region, stayed with it throughout, filing not only for our print edition, but also for our main website straitstimes.com, and our Asia-focused ST.Asia Report."
Foreign editor Ravi Velloor, who wrote a front-page commentary on the rape tragedy, accepted six awards on behalf of Singapore Press Holdings in the southern Indian city of Bangalore last night. The other awards were:
* Silver for the Best in Photo- journalism/Feature Photography: ST photojournalist Nuria Ling, 26, won with her shot of a two-year-old boy abandoning his balance bike to push his paraplegic father's wheelchair.
* Gold for the Best in Community Service: It went to a teachers' handbook produced by the ST Schools team - "48 Values From The News: The Straits Times Guide To Building Character".
* Silver for the Best in Editorial Content/Breaking News: The New Paper won for its coverage of Mr Michael Palmer's shock resignation as Speaker of Parliament over an extra-marital affair.
* Gold for the Best in Newspaper Marketing for the 2012 revamp of billingual newspaper MyPaper.
* Bronze for the Best in Design/Magazine Overall Design for ICON Singapore, a monthly luxury lifestyle magazine.
The annual Asian Media Awards is organised by Wan-Ifra, an organisation representing more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 websites and 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries.
Click on the links below for the award-winning coverage by the ST team.
