Premier campus news event celebrates talent, social awareness among students from mainland, HK, Macao, and Taiwan

The Campus News Awards 2025 program, organized by China Daily Hong Kong, has inspired young journalists from across the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to stay curious and uncover stories in everyday life, while providing them with a platform to sharpen their skills and foster collaboration and exchanges among these aspiring youths.

Distinguished guests and judges encouraged the next generation of reporters to keep questioning and, amid rapid technological advancements, to harness the power of new tools, such as artificial intelligence, and to make use of them to craft more creative and innovative stories.

This year's 14th edition attracted more than 3,000 students from 97 universities, including eight from Hong Kong, three from Macao, and 12 from Taiwan. The competition featured multiple categories and received about 1,000 entries, ranging from Chinese and English news reporting to photo essays, page design and documentaries.

At the awards ceremony, held on Dec 1 at City University of Hong Kong (Dongguan) in Guangdong province, 20 awards were presented. The occasion attracted nearly 300 attendees, including scholars, media professionals, professors, and journalism students.

Delivering his speech at the event, Zhou Li, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily and publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily Hong Kong, said the Campus News Awards program has become a major platform for exchange among journalism students and scholars from across the mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao, witnessing the development of journalism education.

Because of the growing influence of AI tools, this year’s program dropped some categories, such as Best in News Writing and Best in Headline Writing, and introduced four new ones: Best Environmental News Reporting, Best Innovative Applications Reporting, Best Photo Essay, and Best Feature News Video Reporting.

Zhou said that these changes were not intended to downplay writing skills, but to encourage journalism students to move beyond a “tool mindset”.

"While AI can handle basic drafts, future journalists must learn to use it to dig deeper into stories and to innovate in their expression," he said. “It is not just to use AI, but to use it well, to truly capture the pulse of the times.”

Lu Chun, vice-president of City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) and executive president of CityUHK (Dongguan), said that enhancing global communication capacity is a critical step in connecting China with the world and fostering a more objective and amicable international communication environment.

The program provides a platform for professional exchanges among students from across the Taiwan Strait, Hong Kong and Macao. It is not only an encouragement for young journalism talent, but also a vivid embodiment of educational openness and a commitment to international communication," he said.

Lu also encouraged students to stay true to their journalistic ideals, shoulder the responsibilities of the times, and view the program as a starting point for contributing their wisdom and strength to journalism and social development.

Aspiring young minds

The program has also motivated many aspiring young minds to observe the world around them and voice their perspectives on social issues.

Among the winners were Zhang Shuping and Chen Yuqian from South China University of Technology, whose team took home the Best News Reporting (Chinese) award for a piece examining violent incidents against healthcare workers in China.

The team collected around 70 cases through data crawling and interviews, and analyzed the underlying causes and systemic problems behind them.

"We are thrilled to win the award. We've put in a tremendous effort to collect and piece together all this scattered information," Chen said. "It was a difficult task and also our first time doing it. The result is a recognition of everyone's hard work."

Zhang described the award as a "valuable honor" for her and her fellow journalism students. "It inspires us to carry forward the ideals of journalism, to focus on society's pain points and challenges, and to contribute in our own way," she said.

Huang Tzu-i, a merit award winner in the Best Environmental News Reporting (Chinese) category from Shih Hsin University in Taiwan, said the program allowed her to see the work of fellow journalism students and the topics they are exploring. “It made me think about the social challenges we are facing and how we should pay greater attention to them.”

Huang’s team focused on the survival challenges of Sibataniozephyrus kuafui, a rare butterfly species native to Taiwan that is being threatened by habitat destruction. They also examined broader environmental protection issues in the context of climate change.

She said their reporting had a “significant influence” on her, prompting her to reflect on how she could help address the crisis.

“It made me realize that we should pay more attention to environmental issues and start with ourselves, by taking actions such as reducing plastic use to make our environment a better place,” Huang said.

Media veteran Mike Rowse, a member of the awards jury, praised the contest for encouraging critical thinking among the students. “Young people should ask questions, and journalism encourages them to do that. A competition that rewards the people who ask the best questions and write about them has got to be good,” he said.

The program also inspired educators to explore new ways of cultivating future journalists.

“We’ve also seen some new categories added this year in response to shifts in the communication and journalism industries,” said Hong Chen, a professor at Chongqing Technology and Business University, who has guided her students to take part in the competition for three consecutive years.

She said the program is an important part of students’ four-year university experience, as the judging standards align with professional requirements, which could “create a closed loop” between classroom learning and practical training.

Hong added that she plans to incorporate more innovative elements into her courses going forward.

The Campus News Awards, launched by China Daily Hong Kong in 2012, is a renowned

exchange platform for journalism students from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and the mainland. It aims to encourage college students to actively participate in campus news reporting and to hone their all-around skills as future journalists.

Source：China Daily HK