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1st LD-Writethru: WMS Global Awards for Excellence 2014 ceremony

Xinhua, January 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

The World Media Summit (WMS) Global Awards for Excellence 2014 ceremony was held in Beijing on Tuesday.

The Al Jazeera English program 101 East received the public welfare accolade for Exemplary News Teams in Developing Countries; and Sainath Palagummi from the India-based newspaper The Hindu won the Award for Exemplary News Professionals in Developing Countries.

Behind the Bloodshed, a USA Today investigative report on mass killings in America, was named winner of the Award for Media Innovation.

The Award for New Media Reporting was given to Myanmar Emerges, which was produced by the GlobalPost, U.S.

In a speech during Tuesday's ceremony, President of Xinhua News Agency, Cai Mingzhao, said the winners showed incisive observation of major issues, through perseverance and the skillful use of technology.

Cai said the awards encouraged media practitioners to continue honing their skills in the pursuit of excellence.

"It also encourages worldwide media organizations to tackle the challenges of the times, seek innovation, live up to their social responsibilities and serve the public interest."

Also, he acknowledged that the Internet and digital technologies had a profound restructuring effect on the global media industry, thus, media organizations needed to enhance exchanges and cooperation more than ever.

"Xinhua is willing to carry out such exchanges and cooperation at all levels and in diverse fields with worldwide media organizations," he said.

Senior vice president of the Associated Press, Daisy Veerasingham, said China had made dramatic inroads into the digital space and Xinhua's unique position could help pave the way for ventures that require the breadth and depth of coverage the agency can offer.

CEO and co-founder of the GlobalPost, Philip Balboni, during the paper's acceptance speech, noted that the 21st century was a time of both historic opportunity and challenge for journalism, and that the Post was trying to meet this challenge with creativity and integrity.

Palagummi used his acceptance speech to highlight global water scarcity and other problems caused by inequality.

Xinhua Deputy Editor-in-Chief Peng Shujie as well as senior executives and representatives of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, the Hindu Group of Newspapers, the Al Jazeera Media Network, the MIH Group, Reuters News, Turner International Asia Pacific Ltd., and Kyodo News also attended the ceremony.

The ceremony also heard honorable mentions in recognition of reports, journalists, groups and organizations.

The WMS Global Awards for Excellence was the first comprehensive global news awards covering multiple media formats -- spanning traditional print, photography, video and integrated media.

The awards are designed to be authoritative, credible and globally influential. They are open to news organizations, professionals, teams and organizations from around the world.

The list of winners and honorable mentions was released in October 2014. Endi