SINGAPORE - When former Chinese president Hu Jintao was suddenly escorted out of a key communist party meeting, Straits Times journalist Danson Cheong shot a video from his seat in Beijing’s Great Hall and put it up on Twitter.
Mr Cheong, 34, was at the time a correspondent with the national broadsheet’s China bureau and reporting on the carefully choreographed event in October 2022.
The clip racked up more than 12 million views and went online before other international news outlets at the event could file their reports.
Now an assistant editor at the STNow desk, Mr Cheong was one of two journalists awarded the Rising Stars – Young Journalist award during the Singapore Press Club’s Press Ball on Saturday night.
He said: “As a journalist, it was a real privilege to be in China from 2018 to 2023, at a time when there is immense interest and curiosity in the country.
“Through our stories, my colleagues and I sought to help our readers and Singaporeans understand how the changes in China will impact Singapore and the region.”
Ms Khairani Noordin, assistant editor at The Edge Singapore, also got the young journalist award for her coverage of blockchain technology, the metaverse and cryptocurrency.
The awards were given out by Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Janil Puthucheary at a ceremony held at Orchard Hotel.
Two other SPH Media journalists were also recognised for their achievements.
HeyKaki editor Lee Hee Ai from SPH Media’s Chinese Media Group got the Rising Stars – Young Digital Journalist award.
The CDL-Singapore Press Club Sustainability Journalism award was given to Ms Rachel Kelly, a senior presenter at radio station Money FM 89.3.
Ms Loh Pei Ying, head and co-founder of interactive publication Kontinentalist, also received the young digital journalist award.
The inaugural Telum Media-Singapore Press Club Rising Stars Young PR Professional awards were presented to strategic communications firm Redefy founder and managing director Rachael De Foe, and BCW Global senior account executive Annabelle Lim.
Former Old Guard minister S. Rajaratnam, former Straits Times news editor Sit Yin Fong and humorist Sylvia Toh Paik Choo were among 15 journalists inducted into the Singapore Media Industry Hall of Fame.
Mr Rajaratnam and Mr Sit were inducted posthumously.
The Singapore Press Club, in a statement on Saturday, said induction into the Hall of Fame is part of efforts to “recognise the outstanding and lasting contributions of media professionals to the Singapore press sector”.
The late Lianhe Zaobao co-chief editor Mok Lee Kuang and, from The Straits Times, the late sports journalist Joe Dorai, the late editor-in-chief Leslie Hoffman, and former Sunday Times editor David Kraal also made it into the Hall of Fame.
