The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) announced the winners of its annual Awards for Editorial Excellence 2022 in recognition of outstanding works of journalism over the past year in the Asia-Pacific region.
Mediacorp Singapore’s English-language station CNA938’s radio documentary “Educate or Regulate: The Alarming Rise of Cryptocurrency Scams”, won the regional award for Excellence in Audio Reporting, edging out other finalist entries by CNA’s The Climate Conversations’ podcast team and BFM Media.
SOPA is a Hong Kong-based not-for-profit organisation dedicated to pursuing excellence in journalism. Its awards recognise outstanding works of journalism over the past year in the Asia-Pacific region.
In the CNA938 documentary, Ernest Puey explores the rise of crypto scams, what’s luring victims, and if regulation is the only answer to the problem, as the latest data in Singapore shows almost 3 in ten investment-related scams involve cryptocurrencies. The programme features a cryptocurrency scam victim sharing his story, analysts who give a behind-the-scenes look at enforcement and recovery investigations, and a developer who created an unexpected viral hit in Singapore’s cryptocurrency space, the Umbrage Coin.
According to the judges, the winning CNA938 piece was “excellent reporting on a significant issue”. They appreciated its “high production quality”, and said: “This sets the bar for audio journalism in the region. It touches a very current, urgent and complicated topic very successfully with extremely detailed editing.”
98 awards were presented for coverage of key issues around the region. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of SOPA and the 24th consecutive year of Awards for Editorial Excellence.
More than 750 English and Chinese-language entries competed this year in 20 categories including two new categories of Excellence in Technology Reporting and Excellence in Audio Reporting.
The Audio Reporting category drew strong contenders, including startup Project Brazen, whose podcast “Fat Leonard” won a global Award for Excellence. And in the new Technology Reporting category, Tencent News won the Chinese-language Award for Excellence for “Across the Ruins: The Bicycle Sharing Drama Has Not Ended.”