Press Release - December 10, 2002

The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in association with the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), is pleased to announce the second annual Student Journalists Hong Kong Fellowship following the success of the pilot program held late last year and early this year.

The purpose of the fellowship is for students of all recognized journalism schools in Canada to acquaint themselves with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China. With funding and on-the-ground assistance provided by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, two winning student journalists will have the opportunity to visit various points of interests, and meet with people of diverse views, and cultural background in Hong Kong. It is the obligation of the winning student journalists to publish or broadcast stories about Hong Kong after their trip in the local media (newspaper/magazine/others) or in their university/school journals or newsletters. They will have complete editorial freedom in conjunction with their respective student media outlet.

The package on offer includes a return air ticket between Canada and Hong Kong and hotel accommodation for six nights and seven days. During the trip, the HKETO will arrange for familiarization programs for winning student journalists.

The award is open to any journalism student who is currently in a recognized university level journalism program, in their third year of a B.J. program or higher and must be a paid-in-full member in good standing of the Canadian Association of Journalists. Non-members may take out a membership anytime prior to the application deadline or upon application. Each application must include a resum�, and a written proposal laying out what is to be achieved. Students must demonstrate that they have done some basic research on Hong Kong as evidenced by their proposal. The proposal can concentrate on any area of life in Hong Kong.

Applications must reach the Canadian Association of Journalists, by January 31, 2003 at Rm. 316-B, St. Patrick's Building, 1125 Colonel By Drive. Ottawa, ON. K1S 5B6. A three-member judging panel will be formed by the Canadian Association of Journalists to select the winners. The results will be announced by February 15, 2003.

The Director of the HKETO, Mrs Rosanna Ure, said: �We are greatly encouraged by the success of the pilot program. We hope Canadian student journalists will take up our offer to see for themselves the way of life and the rich cultural heritage in Hong Kong. Hong Kong, being Asia's world city, is a vibrant financial, logistics and trading center and an excellent springboard to the booming China market for Canadian businesses.�

The President of the CAJ, Mr. Rob Cribb, said: "This fellowship offers young journalists a rare opportunity to explore and research a fascinating region and tell important stories. Broader perspective makes for better journalism. The CAJ is proud to help make this program available to our student members."

For more details of the Student Journalists Hong Kong Fellowship 2003, please refer to the HKETO website: http://www.hketo.ca, or visit the Canadian Association of Journalists website: http://www.caj.ca


For further enquiries, please contact:
Mr. John Tam, Chief Information officer, Hong Kong Economic and Trade
Office at (416) 924-5544 e-mail: [email protected]
Mr. John Dickins, Executive Director, Canadian Association of Journalists at
(613) 526-8061, or e-mail: [email protected].