SOPA Awards for TheSun (Malaysia)
Malaysian free daily theSun was one of the winners of the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) 2006 awards for Editorial Excellence. The awards are Asia’s equivalent to the US Pulitzer prizes. Most prizes were won by established media like the Financial Times, China Economic Review, Businessweek, Time, IHT, Newsweek and WSJ Asia which makes the award for theSun even more outstanding.
The first award, for Excellence in Opinion Writing, was for a series of six commentaries written by assistant news editor Jacqueline Ann Surin. From the jury report: “Brave opinion writer. Jacqueline Ann Surin’s essays examine the cracks in Malaysia’s facade of moderation. Clearly, non- Muslims, ethnic minorities and women are facing new challenges to their liberties. Ms. Surin examines them in unstinting fashion, from a perspective that is quite personal and therefore very powerful.”
The second win, for Public Service Journalism, was for ‘Low Cost Palace’ by deputy editor R. Nadeswaran and deputy news editor Terence Fernandez. The report was an exposé on the lavish mansion constructed without local authority permission by a local assemblyman and former town councillor. From the jury report: “The Sun: Fresh, ambitious reporting that made an impact on political cronyism. A tenacious piece of investigative journalism in a country where it can be difficult to do this kind of reporting.”