The winners of China’s first Environmental Press Awards, jointly organised by chinadialogue, The Guardian newspaper and Tencent Inc., were announced yesterday at a prize ceremony in Beijing. First prizes were awarded to Lu Zhenhua, winner of the “biggest impact” category, Yang Chuanmin, winner of the “in-depth reporting” category and Meng Dengke, winner of the “investigative journalism” category.
Lu Zhenhua, a reporter for 21st Century Business Herald, covered the investment frenzy in China’s wind-energy market and found that, in the bid to hit renewable energy targets, financial risks had been ignored. Yang Chuanmin, a journalist for Southern Metropolis Daily, reported from a chemical project near the Three Gorges Reservoir, which she discovered could pose risks to the environment and human health. Meng Dengke, in a report for Southern Weekend, investigated corporate links to waste-incineration advocates and revealed a powerful lobby taking aim at environmental-health researchers.
Special commendations were awarded to Yang Dazheng, Wang Peng, Lu Zongshu, Chen Tongkui, Liu Xia and Zhang Ruidan.
Isabel Hilton, chinadialogue‘s editor, said: “China’s environmental journalists have a vital role to play in environmental protection: they expose wrongdoing and they help to educate the public on environment and climate. We are delighted to be able to honour the work of these outstanding and courageous journalists and to bring them to international notice.”
The award judges were: Liu Jianqiang, chinadialogue‘s deputy editor in Beijing and former senior reporter at Southern Weekend; Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent for The Guardian; and Li Yuxiao, director of the News Channel at QQ.com.
Tencent Inc., owner of QQ.com, China’s most popular website and social networking service, also launched its online Environment Channel yesterday.
All of the award-winning articles will be published bilingually on chinadialogue in the coming days. Read the first one, Lu Zhenhua’s report on China’s wind-energy bubble, here.