Malaysian journalist wins SEAMEO-Australia Press Award 2005

The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) is pleased to announce that Ms Cheong Yin Fan, a reporter for Kwong Wah Yit Poh Press newspaper in Penang, Malaysia, is the winner of the SEAMEO-Australia Press Award 2005.

After deliberations on seven entries from journalists in Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines, Ms Cheong earned the highest rating from a committee of three judges. Her entry was a series of articles entitled “Explore the Ocean – Living Series” which narrated the importance of studying and understanding marine life and animal behavior in predicting natural disasters such as tsunamis.

The article’s stress on the need for countries to set up tsunami warning systems to educate the public, and for humans to understand nature so that they can contribute to its protection, merited this recognition for the entry. Last year’s awards prescribed the theme “Education for Disaster Awareness and Recovery.”

Ms Cheong will receive a plaque of recognition at the 41st SEAMEO Council Conference to be held from 21-24 March 2006 in Singapore. The conference is an annual meeting of education ministers of SEAMEO’s 10 Member Countries, hosted alternately by member states.

She will also receive a round-trip ticket to Australia for her three-week internship with newspapers in Melbourne.

The SEAMEO-Australia Press Awards recognizes a print journalist whose work has exhibited exceptional contribution to the coverage of education in Southeast Asia. It is given yearly with the Government of Australia as co-sponsor.

A winner is selected on the basis of excellence in journalism as defined by impact, originality and creativity, investigative effort and relevance to Southeast Asia.

Plague of Recognition Ms Cheong Yin Fan (middle) receiving a plaque of recognition from H E Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Education, Singapore and President of the SEAMEO Council at the 41st SEAMEO Council Conference, Singapore, 22 March 2006. Ms Jan Gough-Watson, Counsellor (Education Science and Training), Australian Education International, the Australian Embassy, Bangkok witnessed the presentation.