“Spirit of Journalism” alive and well at first Yahoo! student journalist award

A story about using flies and fungus to recycle food waste by students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) took the top prize at the first Yahoo! student journalist award on Saturday.

More than 40 students and professors attended the ceremony in Kwun Tong. They come from three  universities and together, they submitted 100 entries.

Yahoo! said on the competition website that the goal was  to recognize and nurture the next generation of media professionals, and deepen their understanding of critical issues such as current affairs, and environmental, social and governance. 

The top English prize  on diversity and inclusion went to Lam Tsoi-yin, 21, and Chan Chi-wing, 22, from the University of Hong Kong who wrote  about the changemakers in an aging society.

“We have done a lot of research on this topic. We are very happy that Yahoo! has set up this competition for us to work on this year, and we are honored to receive this award,”  Lam said.

“We encourage younger journalists to keep digging in more and more great news angles,” said Francis Ng Ka-long, Head of Home & News at Yahoo!, “There are still a lot of journalists who are fully committed to reporting news.”

“Many students’ work are of a high standard,” Ng added.Francis Ng Ka-Long shares his view about the competition. 

Students at  the ceremony were also asked to share what the “Spirit of Journalism” meant for them, and the answer “truth” topped the list.

Raymond Li, the head of the department of Journalism from Hong Kong Baptist University was at the event.

“I always support students to participate in journalism competitions. It doesn’t matter if they win or lose, as long as they have had a chance to present their work and gain experience, which is helpful to improve their professional skills,” he said.