Three women journalists who had collectively contributed more than 100 years to journalism were each presented with a special award at the Penang Media Awards Night 2007. Among them was The Star’s Penang Regional Associate Editor Anna Cheah, 59, who had been a journalist for almost 40 years. The other two were Kwong Wah Yit Poh chief editor Teng Geok Chan, 62, who had remained in journalism for 38 years and Guang Ming Daily executive chief editor Tan Aye Choo, 56, who had served over 30 years. They received their awards which came in the form of a certificate, a trophy and a mystery gift from Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon and state Local Government, Traffic Management, Information and Community Relations Committee chairman Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan on Sunday night. The Star’s five-man team who worked in concert on their front-page story on Standstill – Traffic comes to a halt at Penang Bridge and ferry terminals won the Jury’s Merit Certificate in the print media’s English News report category. The team comprised Zulkifly Mohamad, Tan Sin Chow, Ong Yee Ting, Yeng Ai Chun and M. Sivananthan Sharma. Yeng also won a merit certificate for her article in the English feature category for her Nov, 4, 2006, titled Small town gems, while another colleague, Christina Chin, clinched a merit certificate in the same category for her June 11, 2006, article titled Winds of change – Quay to the past.

The Star photographer K.T. Goh won a merit certificate for his photograph depicting youths learning the art of making lanterns from their elders. An eight-member team from Guang Ming Daily won the Best Overall Journalism Award to clinch the Chief Minister’s Challenge Trophy. The team comprising Ong Beng Siang, Heng See Lin, Lim Ai Ting, Lee Fan Yeen, Tan Kean Yeap, Kelvin Lee, Chan Yoke Yen and Chan Seau Lan won for their series of feature articles on Malaysia’s 50 years on Independence. The articles, which ran from Aug 27 to Sept 4, also won them the award in the print media’s Chinese Feature category. Their colleague Loh Hoay Hoon won the award for Best Photographer in the print media for her picture depicting waves hitting 13 fishing boats published on June 19. The annual event, organized by the state government for the fourth year saw a total of 280 entries vying for honours in 18 categories. Awards were also presented to winners for news reports and features in Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese and Tamil in both the print and electronic media. Dr Koh said the media awards night was to show appreciation for the work of journalists and to serve as an incentive for them to strive for better quality in their work and raising the standard in the profession. Datuk Koay Kar Huah, State Executive Councillor also attended the awards presentation.

Source: Extracts from The Star Newspaper, StarMetro, Tuesday, 27 November 2007.