YANGON — Frontier has further cemented its reputation for high-quality independent journalism, securing two prizes at Asia’s leading media awards last night.
Frontier received honourable mentions in two categories at the Society of Publishers in Asia Awards for editorial excellence at a gala dinner in Hong Kong on May 29.
Digital editor Clare Hammond, reporter Kyaw Lin Htoon and multimedia editor Victoria Milko received an honourable mention in the human rights reporting category for their investigation into the deaths of six women in northern Shan State, “Conflict, conscription and a cover-up”.
Describing the investigation as “fine reporting”, the SOPA judges said it was an “extremely hard story to unearth and cover, pursued impressively by the reporters under difficult conditions and personal risk”.
Editor-in-chief Thomas Kean also received an honourable mention in the opinion writing category. “Time for a new approach on Rakhine State” was “a compelling commentary on one of the most important human rights issues over the past year and the government’s feeble response”, the judges said.
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Both pieces also received merit awards in the Human Rights Press Awards earlier this month.
Coverage of Myanmar featured strongly overall at the awards, with news agency Reuters receiving numerous prizes, including the prestigious Award for Public Service Journalism for “Erasing the Rohingya”.
Publisher Sonny Swe said he was thrilled that Frontier had again been recognised among the leading media organisations in the region.
“It’s a great achievement and it is testament to all the hard work that everyone on our team has put in since we launched back in 2015,” he said. “I’m sure we can build on this and do even better next year.”
It’s not the first time Frontier has enjoyed success at the SOPA awards. Last year it received an award for Excellence in Business Reporting and three commendations, while in 2017 it won an honourable mention for photography.
The SOPA Awards for editorial excellence were established in 1999 and are considered the most prestigious in the Asia-Pacific region. The entries were assessed by a judging panel of media professionals, along with academics from a number of Asia’s leading journalism schools.
