The Standard tops medal tally at SOPA

Hong Kong - The Standard scooped the pool at the recent Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) 2007 awards. Winners were selected in 17 categories including excellence in feature writing, news photography and newspaper design.

"We had a remarkably strong collection of winning entries this year, which shows that the dramatic increase in the overall number of submissions for SOPA Awards is being accompanied by a commensurate rise in overall quality," David Plott, SOPA director of Judges, from the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Centre said.

The Standard was awarded for excellence in human rights reporting, feature photography, business reporting and the scoop award.

The Financial Times, South China Morning Post and Time Asia were at second place in the gong tally, bagging three awards each in various categories including excellence in special issue, section, magazine design, reporting on the environment and opinion writing.

The SOPA Awards were established in 1999 as a tribute to editorial excellence in both traditional and new media, also aimed at encouraging "editorial vitality" throughout the region.

The 2007 SOPA tally for English language publications:

The Standard 4

Financial Times 3

South China Morning Post 3

Time Asia 3

International Herald Tribune 2

Businessweek 2

Newsweek 2

Wall Street Journal Asia 1

Far Eastern Economic Review 1

China Economic Review 1