TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) presided over the Human Rights Press Awards Asia on Friday (May 10).
Previously hosted by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club Hong Kong, the award ceremony was suspended in 2022 and 2023 after changes to Hong Kong’s national security law put the organization at risk. Taiwan has stepped forward to carry the mantle of the awards ceremony in conjunction with Human Rights Watch.
Tsai gave opening remarks to an audience of 200 journalists and guests in a ballroom of Regent Taipei. She expressed pride in her administration’s commitment to press freedom and opposition to authoritarian regimes.
Tsai said Taiwan's press freedom has performed well under her leadership, earning recognition by Freedom House as the second-freest in Asia, trailing only Japan. Tsai said Taiwan is home to 176 foreign correspondents from 86 media outlets in 22 countries, nearly double the number when her administration began in 2016.
She said hosting the awards reflects the importance that Taiwan attaches to press freedom and democratic society. She applauded journalists who undertake difficult missions under pressure.
Awards were presented in seven categories, including investigative writing (English), investigative writing (Chinese), photography, multimedia, video, podcast, and newsroom in exile.
The Guardian won in the English investigative category for its work uncovering the alleged trafficking of workers at Amazon warehouses in Saudi Arabia. Deutsche Welle won for its documentary video about death squads in Bangladesh, and Agence France-Press won for photography covering women fighters battling Myanmar’s military junta.
In the category of newsrooms in exile, Zan Times was awarded for reporting on growing female suicides in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Frontier Myanmar won for reporting on the persecution of religious minorities in Myanmar.