'rainbow after the thunderstorms'

Eunice Lam

The Leader of the Year awards, organized by Sing Tao News Corp, named "flying fish" Siobhan Haughey and top banker Diana Cesar and three others as winners at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong on Wednesday night.

The awards presentation ceremony, which has been held for 29 consecutive years, was hosted by Sing Tao Daily, Headline Daily and The Standard.

The five winning individuals and organizations were honored at the gala, which also marked the 85th anniversary of Sing Tao News Corp.

Chairman Kwok Ying-shing said Sing Tao will comply with the standards of the new era and uphold its journalistic philosophy and traditions of objectiveness, truth and fairness.

"We will pay more attention to citizens' thoughts and reflect their needs, and provide the public with an informative service that is objective and neutral."

Chairman Karson Choi Ka-tsan said Hong Kong finally "welcomed the rainbow after the thunderstorms in the past few years."

Choi said it had been a year since he joined Sing Tao, which has been engaging in the integration of print and online media, with its "Sing Tao Headline" app seeing a sharp increase in the number of readers and pageviews over the year, and will strive to gain support from the younger generation.

SAR Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu congratulated the winners, saying he and his governance team will continue to work with outstanding leaders from different sectors and progress together with citizens.

"We will lead Hong Kong to pursue our economic growth, development and competitiveness, and make our citizens feel happier."

Lee said apart from the government's continuous efforts, talent, and different sectors in the society also need to join hands, to chart a brighter future for Hong Kong, and enhance citizens' sense of happiness and sense of gain.

As the SAR's leader, he said, his biggest motivation is to see people happy.

"We will lead Hong Kong to pursue our economic growth, development, and competitiveness, and make our citizens feel happier, working together to draw a beautiful new chapter for the future of Hong Kong," he said.

Lee recalled that when he first came into office last July, Hong Kong had yet to breakout of the pandemic, and he realized the importance of a decisive and effective anti-Covid policy for the benefit of the community.

In the first month of taking office last July, he built a new governance structure for anti-pandemic policies, and formulated a new principle, which was to be innovative, decisive and ensure execution to be put in place.

He said Hong Kong has fully returned to normalcy, resumed cross-border travel with the mainland, and is in line with the world again, with the biggest challenge being to bring Hong Kong to notching up higher achievements.

The star-studded event also saw principal officials such justice chief Paul Lam Ting-kwok, security chief Chris Tang Ping-keung, constitutional and Mainland Affairs secretary Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, financial services and the treasury chief Christopher Hui Ching-yu, development tsar Bernadette Linn Hon-ho, police commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-yee, Director of Immigration Au Ka-wang, and Independent Commission Against Corruption chief Woo Ying-ming.

Hang Seng Bank executive director and chief executive Diana Cesar was named winner in the Commerce & Industry/Finance category.

The Sports/Culture/Performing Arts category winner was star swimmer Siobhan Haughey.

Senior Citizen Home Safety Association won in the Community/Public Affairs/Environment & Conservation category.

The Education/Professions/Technology & Innovation category winner was Liu Yun-hui, director of T Stone Robotics Institute at Chinese University.

The Young Entrepreneur category winner was Ricky Chiu Yin-to, chairman and chief executive of PHASE Scientific International.

John Lee, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok, former secretary for justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung, CUHK emeritus professor of surgery Arthur Li Kwok-cheung and martial arts actor Donnie Yen Ji-dan presented awards.