Nikkei Asian Review wins 4 top prizes at SOPAawards
August 27, 2020 -- The Nikkei Asian Review won four top prizes on Wednesday at the Society ofPublishers in Asia Awards for Editorial Excellence, regarded as a benchmark for world-classjournalism.
The Nikkei Asian Review -- which publishes online news as well as a weekly print magazine -won four awards for excellence and an honorable mention. This is the most excellence awards
the publication has received since its launch in 2011, and the sixth straight year that the Tokyobased business news platform has been recognized with SOPA prizes.
“It is truly a great honor to be awarded five works in four categories,” said Shigesaburo
Okumura, Nikkei Asian Review editor-in-chief.
The publication won the top prize in Magazine design for its cover story ‘Hard Water,’ a piece
about the Hong Kong protest movement. The cover design and inside layout, overseen by Art
Director Minjung Kim and Design Manager Michael Tsang, was praised by the judges for its“stunning visuals” and “clean, engaging layout.” The cover featured monochrome photos ofprotesters taken by Hong Kong-based photographer Nicola Longobardi.

Two Nikkei Asian Review scoops were recognized by the SOPA judges. A series of stories abouthigh-technology companies leaving China after facing U.S. pressure was awarded the topprize. The story package, by reporters Cheng Ting-fang, Lauly Li, Coco Liu and Shunsuke
Tabeta, was praised by the judges as an “impressive scoop” that “led the way in identifying amajor trend.”
Nikkei Asian Review’s exclusive jailhouse interview with former Nissan Motor Co chairman
Carlos Ghosn, written by Atsushi Nakayama, Akito Tanaka and Yosuke Kurabe, won honorable
mention in the scoop category.

“An important interview with a corporate leader at the centerof a global drama,” the SOPA judges said.
The publication also won the top prize for Explanatory journalism for its series “Decoupling:
The U.S.-China Relationship Unravelled,” which examined the growing battle for technologicaland ideological supremacy between the two superpowers. The pieces, written by Yasu Ota,
Cheng Ting-Fang, Lauly Li, Yifan Yu and Coco Liu were described by SOPA’s judges
as “explanatory reporting at its best.”“Art amid unrest,” a three-piece series of stories about the art inspired by the Hong Kongprotest movement, also received an award for excellence in the arts and culture category.
These stories -- Laurel Chor on Lennon Walls, Michelle Chan on poetry and painting and Ken
Smith on the “Glory to Hong Kong” anthem -- were praised for their visual impact as well as
their storytelling. “With powerful pictures, these articles capture well the flourishing of the arts
in Hong Kong during the recent protests,” the SOPA judges said.
Commenting on the result, Mr Okumura noted the high stakes involved in the prize-winningstories. “In Hong Kong, democracy -- in which freedom of press plays a great role -- is at stake.
The tension between the United States and China seems to be reaching the ‘New Cold War’phase,” he said. “We are very proud that four stories of ours on the Hong Kong protests andU.S.-China tensions won top honors. This is a very encouraging achievement for the Nikkei

Asian Review in its pursuit of high-quality journalism.”
He added: “We are also proud of our colleagues for sweeping two awards in the scoop
category, the main battleground for news media.”
SOPA was founded in 1982 to represent international, regional and local media companies
around Asia and encourage best practices. The SOPA awards, launched in 1999, are abenchmark for world-class journalism from Asia. They are administered by the Journalism andMedia Studies Center at the University of Hong Kong. The awards are judged by panels ofveteran journalists and academics.

About Nikkei

Nikkei is a world-renowned media brand for Asian news, respected for quality journalism and for being a trusted provider ofbusiness news and information. Founded as a market news provider in Japan in 1876, Nikkei has grown into one of theworld’s largest media corporations, with 36 foreign editorial bureaus and approximately 1,500 journalists worldwide. Nikkei
acquired the Financial Times in 2015. Combined digital and print readership of the Nikkei and the FT totals about 4million.
Contact

Public Relations Office, Nikkei Inc.
pr@nex.nikkei.co.jp