Winners of Women’s Empowerment Journalism Awards 2014

Five journalists from across Asia Pacific were recognised for their outstanding work in support of women’s empowerment issues at the inaugural Women’s Empowerment (WE) Journalism Awards Gala Dinner on Friday evening.

Organised by Diageo, a drinks company, the WE Journalism Awards was established to recognise and honour outstanding achievements in the reporting on women’s issues across Asia Pacific, as part of Diageo’s ‘Plan W: Empowering Women through Learning’ initiative.

Finalists were selected by an independent panel of local media influencers, and were judged by three luminaries of journalism and social-activism including Hu Shuli, Editor-in-Chief of Caixin Media, John Wood, Founder of Room to Read and Su-Mei Thompson, CEO of The Women's Foundation.

The winning entries stood out from a crowd of over 300, which were submitted across print, online and broadcast media based in Australia, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines.

The award recipients for the Women’s Empowerment Journalism Awards 2014 are:

• Online Story of the Year: Nilanjana Bhowmick, Time Magazine

Entry: India’s Golden Girls: How Sports and the Olympics Can Uplift Women

• Print Story of the Year: Denise Tsang, South China Morning Post

Entry: Engineering Change

• Photograph of the Year: Aly Song, Reuters

Entry: The Women of China’s Workforce

• Broadcast Story of the Year: Winner: Subina Shrestha, Al Jazeera

Entry: Nepal’s Slave Girls

• Journalist of the Year: Sumnima Udas, CNN

“The Women’s Empowerment Journalism Awards are the first of its kind in Asia Pacific. We have been overwhelmed by the number and quality of submissions and nominations. We’ve received over 300 entries from across the region, indicating the interest and enthusiasm for this forum which is raising awareness of the need for women’s empowerment. Tonight is about celebrating the collective work of outstanding journalists who are putting under the spotlight challenges facing women in Asia Pacific. Congratulations to all our winners!,” said Gilbert Ghostine, President, Diageo Asia Pacific.

Submissions came from a wide spectrum of local, regional and international media outlets including Al Jazeera, Associated Press, CNN, Mediacorp 938 LIVE, Newsdesk Asia, People’s Daily Women Agenda, Reuters, the South China Morning Post, The Sydney Morning Herald and Time Magazine among many others.

Each of the category winners receive prizes worth up to US$10,000 including a cash prize of US$1,000, a WE Journalism Awards trophy and an all-expense paid trip to one of Plan W’s community initiatives in the region.

Launched in 2012, Plan W aims to reach women of all socio-economic profiles through training and skills development to empower two million women in 17 countries in Asia Pacific over five years.

To date, Plan W has empowered 40,000 women in Asia Pacific and created a positive ripple effect that has reached 200,000 beneficiaries of these women. Further affirming its commitment to this cause, Diageo became one of the first alcohol beverage companies in 2012 to sign up to the UN Women's Empowerment Principles (UNWEP) to promote gender equality in the workplace, marketplace and community.