After a successful run of 21 years with the support of the media industry, the Consumer Rights Reporting Awards (CRRA) has undergone a revamp in response to the rapidly changing media landscape and increasingly diversified information dissemination channels in recent years. The Consumer Council formed a dedicated taskforce late last year to conduct a comprehensive review on the Award, covering trend analyses of media development, and study of various local and international journalism awards. The revamped CRRA introduces various enhanced features, such as reworked categories, awards structure, judging process, judging criteria, cash prize value as well as public participation. Independently organised by the Consumer Council, the improved CRRA better connects with the paradigm shift towards social media journalism and new modes of news dissemination, while the addition of a public voting mechanism and new award aims to proactively promote discussions on consumer protection issues, further increasing the public’s awareness on consumer rights. Applications for the Awards open today (7 February 2022).
Categories Restructured with a Newly Added“Annual Topical Award”
Based on research and analysis of various local and international journalism awards, the 7 former categories “Text” (News/Features/ Commentary, and Investigative), “Audio”, “Audio-visual” (Short Clip and Long Clip), “Press Photo”, and “Campus” have been renamed as the “Feature Writing Award”, “Investigative Reporting Award”, “Audio Reporting Award”, “Video Reporting Award (Short Clip / Long Clip)”, “News Photography Award”, and “Tertiary Student Journalism Award” to provide a more accurate definition for the entries.
The “Grand Award”, debuted in 2020 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of CRRA, will remain in place to recognise the most impactful news report of the year across all categories.
A brand new “Topical Reporting Award” will be introduced for the revamped CRRA, aimed to encourage media coverage, both in breadth and depth, on an annual consumption topic announced early each year for submission in the next CRRA. The Council hopes to proactively promote the discussion of consumer protection issues through the Topical Reporting Award, and as such, has selected “Protecting Consumers Under E-commerce” as the topic for 2022. The burgeoning of e-commerce under the new normal has given rise to a variety of new business models, such as influencer marketing, livestream e-commerce, etc., yet the quality of these e-tailers is vastly inconsistent. Spurred on by marketing and advertising, consumers may easily overlook the risks, making it hard for them to seek redress should issues such as unfair deals or even scams arise. Through this annual topic, the Council hopes to urge the e-commerce industry to improve its service quality, as well as to educate consumers on the relevant legal safeguards.
Piloting of the Social Media Category to Expand Participation
One of the highlights of the revamped CRRA is the piloting of the “Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy” category, which was created to honour excellence in social media journalism. This award encourages social media platforms to promote consumer rights leveraging the Consumer Council’s published content (including test or survey reports, infographics, video clips, etc.). At the same time, the CRRA has expanded its applicant eligibility to include the social media pages of news media and lifestyle media platforms providing high-quality consumer news.
The judging criteria of the “Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy” category includes 3 aspects, namely the content, presentation and engagement of the entry. There are 3 award tiers, including the “Grand Prize” (1 awardee, cash prize of HK$20,000), “Best Audience Engagement” (3 awardees, cash prize of HK$4,000 each), and “Best Presentation” (1 awardee, cash prize of HK$6,000).
As the first local journalism award to pilot the inclusion of a social media category, the 22nd CRRA will accept entries from the Facebook and Instagram pages of news media and lifestyle media platforms whose target audience is Hong Kong consumers. The platforms must be established before 1 January 2019 and have at least 200,000 Facebook followers or 50,000 Instagram followers. Each platform can submit a maximum of 10 entries.
2 Categories to Pilot Public Voting for Winning Entries
Breaking the mould of traditional journalism awards that are judged purely by industry professionals, the revamped CRRA sets an unprecedented first by introducing public voting to 2 categories — the “News Photography Award” and “Tertiary Student Journalism Award”. The public can vote online for their favourite amongst 5 entries per category shortlisted by an expert judging panel. Voters will get the chance to join the lucky draw for 23 prizes, ranging from HK$200 to HK$5,000 in value.
Gold, Silver, Bronze and Merit Awards will be selected based on the combined score of the judging panel and online public voting.
Enhanced Prize Structure with Double the Cash Prize
To encourage the media to excel in producing high-quality consumer news reports, the cash prize amount has been doubled across all categories. Under the new prize structure, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Merit Awardees will receive cash prizes of HK$6,000, HK$4,000, HK$2,000 and HK$1,000 respectively, twofold the original cash prize amounts of HK3,000, HK$2,000, $1,000 and HK$500.
Awardees of the “Grand Award”, “Topical Reporting Award” and “Best Use of Social Media on Consumer Advocacy” will each receive a cash prize of HK$20,000 in addition to a trophy.
“The 22nd Consumer Rights Reporting Awards” is Now Open for Application
A prestigious annual award in the industry, the CRRA is organised by the Consumer Council with the aim to recognise the excellence in reporting issues relating to consumer rights. The adjudication panel comprises representatives from professional organisations and academics in journalism, in addition to the Council Chairman and Vice-Chairman.
The 22nd Consumer Rights Reporting Awards is now inviting entries from media organisations and journalists. Interested applicants must submit the online entry form together with their entry by 30 April 2022. The awards presentation ceremony is planned to be held in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Online entry form: https://bit.ly/CRRA22_entryform