An executive producer who headed RTHK's Hong Kong Connection resigned soon after he was told the documentary program must focus on livelihood instead of political issues.

Sources said Paul Lee Yin-chit quit because his suggestions to produce documentaries on June 4 and the Yuen Long MTR station attack in 2019 were rejected.

"Hong Kong Connection can only do stories about people's livelihood in the future," Lee was told in a meeting yesterday.

That came as a Hong Kong Connection episode on the Yuen Long attack, 7.21 Who Owns the Truth? that he and former RTHK producer Bao Choy Yuk-ling produced won a prestigious prize.

The Human Rights Press Awards, organized by the Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong Journalists Association and Amnesty International, announced that Choy, Lee and four colleagues won the Chinese-language documentary award.

The judges described the documentary as "chasing the smallest clues, interrogating the powerful without fear or favor, and an investigative reporting classic."

Choy celebrated on Twitter, saying it would help journalists uphold their faith. "Salute to all winners who uncover the truth, and speak out for the voiceless across the globe," she said.

Choy was fined HK$6,000 last month after being convicted of improper searches of an online car license plate database as part of the investigative journalism piece to identify perpetrators of the 2019 Yuen Long attack. Choy said Wednesday she would appeal the conviction.

The documentary has also won the Kam Yiu-yu Press Freedom Award. But RTHK has rejected it, saying it would not accept any media awards during a "transition period."

Assistant program officer Nabela Qoser, whose contract will be terminated by RTHK, also won awards.

Qoser won two merit awards for videos she helped produce for This Week - short video Awakened, amid the Epidemic? and a documentary In the Name of Justice.

Nabela Qoser and RTHK's 7.21 Who Owns The Truth?

Producer quits over RTHK ban