The Straits Times has been recognised for its impactful editorial content as well as its infographics and photos at the Asian Media Awards (AMA) this year.

In the 19th edition of the AMA, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) emerged as the biggest winner, clinching a total of eight awards across four categories.

The Straits Times took home three bronze and two silver awards.

ST's regional correspondent Leslie Lopez was awarded silver in the Best in Breaking News Article category for his story "Jho Low reaches settlement with US authorities over 1MDB probe".

Winning bronze in the same category was ST commentary "The puzzling case of SMC's judgment on a doctor who was fined $100,000".

The story by senior health correspondent Salma Khalik made waves for its critical take on whether the Singapore Medical Council's judgment in the case of Dr Lim Lian Arn had been too heavy-handed.

Ms Khalik said her story, which was published in February last year, was part of a long saga that started when the Singapore Medical Council published its disciplinary decision in the case of Dr Lim.

"What I did was merely highlight the various contradictory, and sometimes even ridiculous, actions and statements by the different groups," said Ms Khalik, 65.

She was glad, she said, that her story, which also won Story of the Year at SPH's annual awards in April, "contributed to helping right a wrong".

ST also impressed judges with its infographic "The Marvel Cinematic Universe: The story so far...", which won silver in the Best in Newspaper Infographics category.

Put together by a team of four artists and infographic journalists led by visual and infographics deputy editor Simon Ang, 55, the graphic was the brainchild of infographic journalist Billy Ker, 32, who is known to his colleagues as the in-house Marvel cinematic universe expert.

The team, which included Ms Lee Yu Hui, 26, and Mr Bryandt Lyn, 32, had to distil 22 Marvel movies into defining frames before deciding which scenes they wanted to illustrate for the graphic.

Executive photojournalist Mark Cheong won bronze in the Best in Sport Photography category for a shot he captured of Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo celebrating a goal he had scored in a match between Juventus and Tottenham Hotspur.

Mr Cheong, 32, managed to pull off the difficult task of capturing Ronaldo at the highest point of his jump.

ST was also given a bronze award for the overall design of the newspaper.

The annual competition is organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.

This year's awards were announced online amid the Covid-19 outbreak and were decided by a panel of 20 judges hailing from eight countries.

The 46 participating media companies were officially informed of the results via e-mail on Tuesday.

"All of us in the ST newsroom are heartened by these awards, not least since we are up against our peers internationally," said Mr Warren Fernandez, editor of The Straits Times and editor-in-chief of SPH's English/Malay/Tamil Media Group.

One silver and two bronze awards were also bagged by photojournalists from SPH's Chinese Media Group.

Photojournalist Lim Zerui, 31, was awarded silver in the Best in Feature Photography category for Project Aurora.

During a recreational trip to Norway in April last year, he saw light flares in the sky and captured the moment with his camera. The photo was published in a picture spread in Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao last October.

Ms Lee Huay Leng, head of the Chinese Media Group, said: "These awards have proved once again that (our photographers) have succeeded in using photography as an effective story-telling device to engage our readers."

Other news agencies on the awards list include the South China Morning Post, Nikkei, Living Media India and the Star Media Group.