JOHOR BARU – Journalists of the New Straits Times Press Bhd won three out of six newsprint awards in Bahasa Malaysia and English at the Johor 2011 Media Awards last night.

New Straits Times journalist Jassmine Shadiqe won in the English feature category for her article in the New Sunday Times edition on July 17 titled “If only the public had cared” which was on the kindergarten hostage incident in Muar in July.

The article focused on the hammer wielding hostage taker, who was believed to be a mentally unsound drug addict. He was shot dead by police after holding 30 kindergarten pupils hostage.

In the article, Jassmine had lamented the fact that the public had known about the odd behaviour of the hostage taker who always carried a hammer with him. However, nobody had alerted the police despite previous attacks on kindergarten pupils by a man with a hammer in the town.

NST part-time journalist Rizal Abdullah won in the English sports category for his article “Choi coming back home” on South Korean golfer KJ Choi who returned to Johor to defend his title in
the Iskandar Johor Open last year.

Berita Harian journalist Mohamed Farid Noh won in the Bahasa Malaysia development article category for his Bandar Hilang (Lost towns) following the rise of the sea level which threatened coastal towns.

The winner in each category received RM2,000, a trophy and a certificate of appreciation.

The prizes were given away by Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman. In his speech, Ghani called on journalists to uphold their integrity and ethics.

“Make sure the articles that you write are factually accurate. You must also uphold your integrity and ethics as you are regarded as responsible media practitioners.”