The 22nd Consumer Rights Reporting Awards

Background

Since its establishment in 2001, the “Consumer Rights Reporting Awards” (CRRA) has been an annual celebrative event organised and hosted by the Consumer Council. The event aims at motivating media to develop and publish news on consumer rights and interests and to advocate for and advance consumer protection policies, in order to raise the general public’s awareness of consumer rights and enhancement of consumer empowerment.

Award Categories

Awards will be offered in the following 8 categories:

• Feature Writing Award
• Investigative Reporting Award
• Audio Reporting Award
• Video Reporting Award (Short clip – 5 minutes or under)
• Video Reporting Award (Long clip – 5 minutes above)
• News Photography Award
• Tertiary Student Journalism Award
• Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy

In addition to the awards in each category, there are two special awards, including:

• Grand Award: it will be chosen among the Gold Awards entries across 7 categories (excluding the “Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy”) by the judging panel.

• Topical Reporting Award: it is aimed to encourage media coverage, both in breadth and depth, on an annual consumption topic announced by the Consumer Council early each year for submission in the next CRRA.

The topic for 2022 is “Protecting Consumers Under E-commerce”. Participants will submit entries in 2023.

Participation Eligibility

• Participation in the event is open to journalists, whether directly employed or freelancers, engaged in print, broadcast and web-based media in Hong Kong, whose primary audience or readership is based in Hong Kong.  Web-based media must be engaged primarily in news and public affairs, disseminate information to the general public and publish news content at least five days a week, and includes both independently operated news websites and websites affiliated with printed or broadcast media organisations.
• Students of local University or higher education institutes are eligible to participate in the “Tertiary Student Journalism Award” category.
• News media and lifestyle media platforms with Facebook Pages or Instagram Accounts meeting the following criteria are eligible to participate in the “Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy” category:
• the target audience of the Facebook Page / Instagram Account is primarily Hong Kong readers;
• the Facebook Page or Instagram Account is established before 1 January 2019 and remains active (with uploads in the 4 weeks preceding 7 February 2022); and
• since (and including) 7 February 2022, the Facebook Page or the Instagram Account has at least 200,000 followers and 50,000 followers respectively.

Entry Criteria

• All entries must have been published and disseminated to the public in print or broadcast through broadcasters, web-based media or wire services agencies, in either Chinese or English.
• The entry’s initial publication or broadcast must be between 1 January and 31 December 2021 (both dates inclusive). 
• Entries can be a reporting by an individual journalist or a team of journalists.
• An entry may only be submitted for one category.  An entry which integrates a variety of presentation formats, for example, video, audio or photography, shall count as one entry.
• An entry comprising a series of works must demonstrate a clear consistent theme throughout. 

Platforms participating in the “Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy” category must satisfying the following additional criteria:

• The post must leverage on information (such as trade practice or market research reports, test reports, surveys, infographics and video clips, etc.) published by the Consumer Council to promote consumer rights.
• The post’s initial publication on the platform’s Facebook Page or Instagram Account must be between 1 January and 31 December 2021 (both dates inclusive).
• Up to 10 entries may be submitted by the platform.  If more than 10 entries are submitted, only the first 10 entries (according to the time of submission) will be considered as entries qualifying for review.
• Posts sponsored by commercial organisations, or in the nature of commercial promotion or advertising, will not be accepted. 
• Posts which offered any incentive reward to boost engagement or required readers to share/comment/like in order to read its content will not be accepted.

Entry Submission Requirements

• Fill in the online entry form to complete the application: https://bit.ly/CRRA22_entryform

• Entries may be submitted by journalists in their personal capacity or by media organisations on their behalf. 

• Each entry must be submitted with a completed entry form and with the following specifications:

• Please complete and submit one entry form for each entry
• All submissions will be reviewed for conformance with these Rules and Regulations.  Any non-conforming submissions may be rejected by the Council at its absolute discretion and will not proceed to the judging process.
• Journalists and media organisations submitting the entries on their behalf are required to make the Declaration provided on the entry form. 

Submission Method

• For entries submitted in digital format, please upload the digital files to: https://bit.ly/crra22_entryupload

• Please mail print entries to the Consumer Council (Address: 22/F K. Wah Centre, 191 Java Road, North Point)

Entry Deadline
30 April 2022

Judging Process

• The judging is a rigorous three-stage process of initial screening, preliminary judging and final judging, which will be held in May, June, July to September 2022.

Judging Criteria

The judging criteria for all category types, except the " Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy " is as follows:

• Entries regardless of format, writing style and presentation will be assessed and adjudicated based on the same footing and the set of criteria adhering to the highest journalistic principles, i.e. honesty, accuracy, fairness and transparency.
• Entries must be original journalistic works and related to topical consumer issues in Hong Kong.
• Judging criteria: Impact to the Society/Consumers (40%). Content (30%), Presentation Skill (30%),

Judging criteria for "Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy ":

• Includes 3 aspects: content (40%), presentation skills (30%) and community engagement (30%).

Adjudication Panel

The adjudication panel comprises representatives from Consumer Council, professional organisations and academics in journalism.

• Prof. Francis LEE Lap-fung, Director, School of Journalism and Communication,  The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Mr. Simon FUNG Shing-cheung, former Executive Editor-in-Chief, Ming Pao Daily News
• Ms. May CHAN Suk-mei, BBS, JP, Special Advisor to the Chairman, Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Limited
• Mr. WONG Wing-hang, Chairman (2018-2019), Hong Kong News Executives’ Association
• Dr. Kaman LEE Ka-man, Head and Associate Professor of Practice, Department of Journalism and Communication, Hong Kong Shue Yan University
• Ms. Bonnie CHIU Lai-yu, Associate Professor of Practice, Department of Journalism, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University
• Prof. Peter KWAN Wai, Associate Dean, Department of Journalism and Communication, Chu Hai College of Higher Education
• Mr. Ronald CHIU Ying-chun, Associate Dean, School of Communication, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong
• Mr. Keith TAM Chi-hang, Head of Department (Communication Design),Hong Kong Design Institute
• Prof. Toa Charm, Associate Professor of Practice in Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School
• Dr. Jason CHAN, MH, JP, Assistant Dean (Innovation and Entrepreneurship), College of Professional and Continuing Education, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Mr. SHUM Chi-ming,  Former Director of the Hong Kong Observatory

• Mr. Antonio KWONG Cho-shing, MH, Vice-chairman, Consumer Council
• Mr. Kyrus SIU King-wai, Chairman of Publicity and Community Relations Committee, Consumer Council
• Ms. Gilly WONG Fung-han, Chief Executive,Consumer Council

Public Voting

• As a pilot test, public voting shall be introduced for 2 categories — the “News      Photography Award” and “Tertiary Student Journalism Award”.
• The public can submit their votes via an online voting platform to be established by the Consumer Council on 5 entries per category shortlisted by the adjudication panel.
• The score of the adjudication panel shall account for 70% and public vote shall account for 30% of the total score.

Awards

• There are Gold Award, Sliver Award, Bronze Award and Merit Award in each category (except the “Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy”) .

Gold Award: Cash Prize HK$6,000 and certificate

Sliver Award: Cash Prize HK$4,000 and certificate

Bronze Award: Cash Prize HK$2,000 and certificate

Merit Award: Cash Prize HK$1,000 and certificate

• Grand Award: Winner is awarded a trophy and HK$20,000 cash prize

• Topical Reporting Award: Winner is awarded a trophy and HK$20,000 cash prize

• There are 3 award tiers for the “Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy” category :

          Grand Prize (1 awardee):  Cash prize of HK$20,000 and a trophy

           Best Audience Engagement (3 awardees): Cash prize of HK$4,000 and a certificate

Best Presentation (1 awardee): Cash prize of HK$6,000 and a certificate

Other rules and regulations

• The winners will be announced at the prize presentation ceremony held in the fourth quarter of 2022. The organiser will notify the winners and the arrangement for the prize presentation ceremony.  If prevailing operational and social needs require, the ceremony may need to be conducted online.
• If an entry is submitted by or on behalf of a group of contestants, the award for such entry shall be made to the contestants as a team.
• The organiser reserves the right of final interpretation of all rules and regulations and final decision-making on all matters relating to the event, and the absolute right to reject or disqualify any entriy or participation in the event.  The organiser also has the right to at any time vary these rules and regulations, the judging process and criteria, or to suspend or terminate the event (or part thereof, including in relation to any category).  The organiser shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from such variation, suspension or termination.  In the event of any dispute, the organiser’s decisions  shall be final and binding on all contestants.
• The organiser reserves the right not to make any award in any category if the adjudication panel decides that none of the entries meets the required standards for an award.  Decisions of the judges shall be final.
• The organiser shall not be liable for and does not assume any obligation or responsibility for any direct or indirect loss, damages, costs, expenses, disputes or claims whatsoever and howsoever arising directly or indirectly from or in connection with the 22nd Consumer Rights Reporting Awards. Any legal dispute is not related to the organiser.
• These rules and regulations shall be governed by the laws of the Hong Kong SAR.
• In case of any conflict or discrepancy between the English version and Chinese versions, the Chinese version shall prevail.
   

Enquiries

Organiser: Consumer Council

Tel : 2856 8569 (Monchi Lau)

Email : crra@consumer.org.hk

Address : 22/F, K.Wah Centre, 191 Java Road, North Point