For the first time, HKPPA is opening the annual “Focus at the Frontline” competition to student entries, introducing two new student categories photo essays and “return to normalcy” themed singles . The entries will go through the same rigorous judging process by professionals in the industry. With this new development, we hope to recognise the work of students’ and their potential in delivering images with news and artistic values.
Open for entries: February 16, 2024 Deadline: March 15, 2024 23:59
Singles theme: “Return to normalcy” • Up to five photos under the theme of “Return to Normalcy” can be submitted. Photos submitted can include portraits, features, breaking news, environment and other work. • All photos must be taken within 2023.
Photo essays: open to all themes • A collection of photographs that highlights a theme. Any theme can be submitted in this category. • The majority of the pictures should be taken in 2023, however, it’s at the jury’s discretion to allow pictures taken before 2023 to be a part of the submission.
The annual “Focus at the Frontline 2023” news photography competition opens today. Categories receiving applications include Breaking News, General News, Portrait, Sports, Feature, Nature and Environment, and Photo Essay. The jury will be composed of professionals in the news photography, media and artistic industries and will be announced in due course.
Newly legislators poses for a group photo after Oath-Taking ceremony for Legislative Council at Legco Building, Admiralty. 03JAN22.
(A) 突發新聞組（共收到90張）
冠軍：
楊曉燊 Yeung Hiu Sun 南華早報 SCMP
Commuters leave MTR train and walk to Tseung Kwan O Station after MTR services got suspended in the rush hour in the morning as couplings between two carriages failed, bringing the train to a sudden halt. 05DEC22
During a concert by Hong Kong’s singing boy group MIRROR at the Hong Kong Coliseum on July 28, 2022, a large overhead video screen fell onto the stage, seriously injuring two dancers. One of them, Li Kai-yin Moses, is at risk of being paralyzed. This photo captures the moment the screen fell and crushed one of the dancers. Other people were helping to remove the screen while two members of MIRROR, Anson Lo and Edan Lui, looked shocked.
14 years old Alexandria (front-right), accompanied by her mom, smiles as she touches her father, who was a Ukrainian soldier and was killed in Karkhiv during a fight against the Russian forces, for the last time during his funeral service in Dnipro, Ukraine, 13 May 2022. Her father was found dead on May 8, a day before the Russian Victory Day. But Alexandria says smiles may help conquer the pain of losing her loved ones.
Daniel Ceng ZUMA Press
An elderly woman, together with her dogs, walks past a building damaged by a Russian missile strike in the town of Borodyanka in Ukraine, as a large number of residents are said to have been buried under the rubble of several other collapsed buildings in the area, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before liberated in early April, Borodyanka was occupied by the Russian forces. Lethal weapons including missiles and artillery were used against civilians, killing hundreds in the town.
王昕甯 Bertha Wang 自由攝影師 Freelance Photographer
Construction workers move the metal sheets to cover up a campus inscription mourning the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on a campus footbridge at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) on January 29, 2022.
(B) 一般新聞組（共收到256張）
冠軍：
曾國宗 Tsang Kwok Chung 南華早報 SCMP
Newly legislators poses for a group photo after Oath-Taking ceremony for Legislative Council at Legco Building, Admiralty. 03JAN22.
亞軍：
林林 Lin Lin 壹蘋新聞網 Nextapple News
台灣總統蔡英文視導海軍陸戰隊時，舉起國造紅隼反裝甲火箭。
季軍：
梁偉榮 Leung Wai Wing 香港經濟日報 HKET
英國駐港總領事館在外牆上投射英女王頭像投影讓到場人士弔唁。2022年9月20日
優異：
吳冠文 Robert Ng 南華早報 SCMP
The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor departs after meeting the Chief Executive-elect, Mr John Lee Ka-chiu at CGO. 09MAY22
The East Rail Line Cross-Harbour Extension commence service on 15 May 2022. MTR Corporation arrange a “Special Train for First Service Day of East Rail Line Crossing Harbour” departing from Exhibition Centre Station at Wan Chai. 15MAY22
March 12, 2022, Lviv, Ukraine: A Ukrainian kid holding a pneumatic pistol and a paper target with the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin, reacts to his mom’s phone camera, at a gun gallery in Lviv, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. Russian attacks on Ukraine have continued, with multiple bombings, tank attacks and killing of civilians reported in several cities since the beginning of the war. Civilians have started to get trained for combat situations and emergency, including learning how to use firearms.
Snooker Legend Ronnie “Rocket” O’Sullivan and local hero Marco Fu play neck and neck in the finals of Hong Kong Masters on October 9, 2022.
亞軍：
方家遠 Philip Fong 法新社 AFP
In this picture taken on July 7, 2022 “Epara” enthusiast Shunya Hatakeyama poses for a photo following an interview with AFP at his home in Shiwa, Iwate Prefecture. – Street Fighter player Shunya Hatakeyama has muscular dystrophy so uses his chin to launch devastating combos. He is not the only Japanese gamer proving that disability is no barrier in eSports.
季軍：
蕭梅麟 Siu Mui Lun 亞新社 EyePress
Michelle Li of Canada attend the Perodua Malaysia Masters 2022 at Axiata Arena, Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 06 July, 2022.
A hotel staff wearing PPE waits outside a room at a government-designated quarantine hotel to conduct a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on a traveler under quarantine order in Hong Kong, May 9, 2022.
陳子煜 Chan Tsz Yuk Alex 自由攝影師 Freelance Photographer
A woman was sunbathing on a grass field next to the Dnipro River in Dnipro on Wednesday, June 1, 2022.Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants, and was located in the eastern part of Ukraine, the city has rapidly developed as a logistical hub for humanitarian aid and a reception point for people fleeing multiple battle fronts due to the closest main city to the Donbas region, one of the most fierce fighting frontlines in the war.The city was relatively safe without constant shelling in the city, and people trying to live a normal life under the war happening in their homeland
In this long exposure picture, staff members from the Hoshinoya Tokyo hotel demonstrate the “Lantern Dining Experience”, where lanterns made by Kojima Shoten – a shop in Kyoto – are used to shroud diners for mask-free dining amid the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, during a media event at the hotel in Tokyo on February 28, 2022.
(F) 自然與環境（共收到127張）
冠軍：
易仰民 Yik Yeung Man 南華早報 SCMP
Clean workers transporting clinical wastes in Caritas Medical Centre in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong March 06 2022.
亞軍：
李睿哲 Lee Yui Chit Eugene 星島日報 Sing Tao Daily
The arrival hall of Hong Kong international Airport is nearly empty on 27 March, 2022. Hong Kong has lost its status as an international aviation hub because of China’s zero-covid policy and strict quarantine rules for inbound travelers.
季軍：
王昕甯 Bertha Wang 自由攝影師 Freelance Photographer
Cranes at a temporary hospital for Covid-19 patients under construction, foreground, near the border with Shenzhen, rear, in the Lok Ma Chau Loop area of Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, March 15, 2022. About half of Hong Kong’s 7.4 million people have already been infected with Covid-19, according to an estimate of the damage caused by the deadly omicron wave that’s overwhelmed the city.
Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, 2022 at the age of 96. Ever since the announcement of her death, thousands of people mourn outside the Buckingham Palace in London, the United Kingdom. People spend at least 12 hours in the “Queue” across the Thames River to file past the Queen’s coffin in Westminster Hall where she lies in state before the funeral took place on September 19. Queen Elizabeth II is the longest-reigning monarch in the British history.
優異：
林亦 Lam Yik 自由攝影師 Freelance Photographer
More than 12,000 people die because of Covid-19 in Hong Kong during 2022, mostly elderly. Following China’s Covid Zero policy, all activities banned, residential building lockdown everyday, people are not only have to worry about their life, but also food shortage, quarantine, queue up for swab test everyday. A year of blur, life and death in Hong Kong.
曾國宗 Tsang Kwok Chung 南華早報 SCMP
Residents queue up for the Covid-19 test at a mobile specimen collection station in Mong Kok. The city has more than 1,000 confirmed coronavirus infections for the first time since the pandemic began. From January in 2022, the fifth wave of the pandemic with its rapidly increasing case numbers forced the city government to give up its previous protocols for testing, quarantine, treatment and discharge from hospitals.
May Tse 南華早報 SCMP
The queuing line for Covid-19 PCR tests in the community screening centre in Muk Lun Street Playground, Wong Tai Sin is now decommissioned as more residents find RAT kits more handy and widely available. Sports Ground, Park, and BBQ site are closed to the public, under the anti-coronavirus measures. Hongkongers have been living under strict social-distancing rules as part of the fight against Covid-19.
《前線 · 焦點》新聞攝影比賽評審日將訂於三月十八日 (星期六) 下午二時至下午八時假觀塘鴻圖道59號鵬光大廈1樓 The Lobby 舉行。歡迎各位到場支持。 We are pleased to announce that this year’s judging of the annual “Focus at Frontline” photo contest will take place on Saturday, March 18, 2016 from 2pm to 8pm at 1/F, Pang Kwong Bldg, 59 Hung To Rd, Kwun Tong (The Lobby). Everyone is welcomed to observe the judging process.
The judging of the annual “Focus on the Frontline” 2015 photo competition concluded today (Saturday, March 12, 2016). The jury reviewed 1,356 photographs submitted from
67 photojournalists, with one entry being disqualified. The results are as follows: http://hkppa.net/contest2015
The “Photo of the Year” was awarded to the “McRefugees” photograph taken by Sam Yip Ka Ho of Initium. The jury feels the image best portrays the unique situation that Hong Kong is currently facing and provokes many thoughts. The image well documented the humanity and acceptance towards the underprivileged groups from the city. There is a deeper message
captured by the image beyond the usual “land problems” that a lot of people face everyday. Although this is not an image with shocking visual, but it definitely has a deeper and longer impact to everyone. Furthermore, there is a balance between the visual effect and news elements distributed in the image, such as composition and tone.
Overall, the jury feels there is a resonance with the community in the “Photo of the Year” and the winner of the photo story. Despite many harsh conditions that we witnessed when reviewing photos in the competition, they still hope photojournalists will continue to use their own unique and special method to tell stories of different events and people in the city.
“Focus On The Frontline” photo contest first began in 1993 and has been one of the largest photo competitions in Hong Kong and one of the most prestigious awards for photojournalists. Through this competition, we would like to to feature photographs that are important to the history, combined with elements of art and journalism taken by photojournalists within the year. Also to provide recognition of their great work and give an insight to the works of photojournalists and the media to the general public.
The make up of the jury panel are stakeholders of photojournalism and are as follows:
Eric Tsang — Focus on the Frontline 2014 Photo Essay Category winner, Veteran Photojournalist
Leon Suen — Hong Kong Baptist University Lecturer in Photojournalism
C.Y. Yu — Former Photojournalist and former HKPPA Chairperson
Yau Ching-Yuen — Founder and Chief Editor of online media Post 852
Francis Lee — Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Luke Ching Chin-wai — Artist
Vincent Yu — Associated Press Photojournalist
(A)突發新聞 Spot News (共收到 Total Submissions: 92 張)
冠軍 First Prize: 許頌明 — 蘋果日報 Hui Chung Ming — Apple Daily
亞軍 Second Prize: 林俊源—明報 Lam Chun Yuen — Ming Pao
季軍 Third Prize: 鄧宗弘—明報 Tang Chung Wang — Ming Pao
優異 Honorable Mentions:
i) 陳奕釗 — 蘋果日報 Chan Yik Chiu — Apple Daily
ii) 張建邦 — 美聯社 Cheung Kin Pong — Associated Press
(B)一般新聞(共收到 Total Submissions: 156 張)
冠軍 First Prize: 鍾林枝—明報 Chung Lam Chi — Ming Pao
亞軍Second Prize: 蘇正謙 — 星島日報 So Ching Him — Sing Tao Daily
季軍 Third Prize: 李志湧 — 星島日報 Lee Chi Yung — Sing Tao Daily
優異 Honorable Mentions:
i)盧翊銘—端傳媒 Lo Yick Ming — Initium
ii)盧翊銘—明報 Lo Yick Ming — Ming Pao
iii) 李志湧 — 星島日報 Lee Chi Yung — Sing Tao Daily
(C)人物 (共收到 Total Submissions: 162 張)
冠軍 First Prize: 蘇正謙 — 星島日報 So Ching Him — Sing Tao Daily
亞軍Second Prize: 葉家豪 — 端傳媒 Yip Ka Ho — Initium
季軍 Third Prize: 曾國宗 — 南華早報 Tsang Kwok Chung —SCMP
優異 Honorable Mentions:
i) 雷日昇 — 星島日報 Lei Jih Sheng — Sing Tao Daily
ii)鄧宗弘—明報 Tang Chung Wang — Ming Pao
iii) 高仲明 — 壹週刊 Ko Chung Ming — Next Magazine
(D)體育 (共收到 Total Submissions: 72 張)
冠軍 First Prize: 何家達 — 蘋果日報 Ho Ka Tat — Apple Daily
亞軍 Second Prize: 易仰⺠ — 蘋果日報 Yik Yeung Man — Apple Daily
季軍 Third Prize: 鍾林枝—明報 Chung Lam Chi — Ming Pao
(E)特寫 (共收到 Total Submissions: 175 張)
冠軍 First Prize: 葉家豪 — 端傳媒 Yip Ka Ho — Initium
亞軍 Second Prize: 蘇正謙 — 星島日報 So Ching Him — Sing Tao Daily
季軍 Third Prize: 謝榮耀 — 蘋果日報 Tse Wing Yiu — Apple Daily
優異 Honorable Mentions:
i) 何君健 —星島日報 Ho Kwan Kin — Sing Tao Daily
(F)自然與環境 (共收到 Total Submissions: 115 張)
冠軍 First Prize: 江智騫 — HK01 Kong Chi Hin — HK01
亞軍 Second Prize: 余俊亮 — 明報 Yu Chun Leung — Ming Pao
季軍 Third Prize: 王智強 — 南華早報 Wong Chi-keung Felix — SCMP
優異 Honorable Mentions:
i)傅俊偉—E週刊 Fu Chun Wai — E Weekly
ii)鄧宗弘—明報 Tang Chung Wang — Ming Pao
iii) 楊柏賢— 蘋果日報 Yeung Pak Yin — Apple Daily
(G)圖片故事Photo Stories (共收到 Total Submissions: 48 輯 Stories , 共 Total of Photos: 589 張)
冠軍 First Prize: 高仲明 — 壹週刊 Ko Chung Ming — Next Magazine
亞軍 Second Prize: 張建邦 — 美聯社 Cheung Kin Pong — Associated Press
季軍 Third Prize: 馮漢柱 — 經濟日報 Fung Hon Chu — Hong Kong Economic Times
優異 Honorable Mentions:
i)郭浩忠—端傳媒 Billy H.C. Kwok — Initium
ii) 鍾偉德 — 蘋果日報 Chung Wai Tak — Apple Daily
iii) 何家達 — 蘋果日報 Ho Ka Tat — Apple Daily
