China Daily Hong Kong Edition has made great strides over the past year, having been named as the recipient of five awards for news reporting excellence at the 2010 Hong Kong News Awards sponsored by the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong (NSHK).

China Daily Hong Kong Edition's awards, announced Wednesday, fall into the categories of Best News Writing, Best Headline, Photographic Section (Features) and Best News Page Design.

Feature reporter Fu Lei was named first runner-up for Best News Writing in English with his in-depth feature entry, "Shanty towns face hard home truths".

Through detailed descriptions and an analysis of the shanties' history and recent circumstances, Fu's story delved into the identity crisis faced by people living in shanty households. Given that the shanties reside on property that is neither privately nor publicly owned, residents face the grim likelihood of being left homeless and ineligible for compensation when the lands are redeveloped. Even though they need to withstand disasters such as gales and fire accidents and tolerate poor hygiene, some shanty dwellers refuse to abandon their fragile homes because of their love for the neighborhood and its ambiance.

The second runner-up award for Best News Writing in English goes to China Daily city news reporter Timothy Chui for his story "Last stand". Chui sets out the reasons for the disappearance of the city's once popular newsstands. With competition from chain stores, online news , free newspapers and license extinctions, newsstand owners are facing a crisis of manpower and declining business.

The headline "Last stand" also earned copy editor Robert Ireland the first runner-up award for Best Headline in English. The headline suits the context of the story pointing to the possible extinction of traditional newsstands.

The paper's photographer Edmond Tang won Merit for Photographic Section (Features) in the article titled "Mainland dream for city's elderly a poverty risk".

The feature "The private life of a kung fu icon", with page design by Mok Kwok-cheong, was awarded the first runner-up for the Best News Page Design.

The NSHK, set up in 1954, is the city's largest newspaper industrial society and is the organizer of the annual Hong Kong News Awards.

The widely acclaimed news awards have been held since 1997.

During the awards ceremony, 65 prizes are presented in four sections for both Chinese and English newspapers: reporting, writing, photography and design.

The awards aim to recognize the outstanding achievements of journalists and raise professional standards.

China Daily

(HK Edition 03/17/2011 page1)