The Hong Kong Prize and Xplorer Prize 2020
The Hong Kong Prize is an award for excellence in research and the promotion of science and technology. It is awarded by a panel of experts selected by the Board of the Hong Kong Alliance of Technology and Innovation (The Board) on the basis of independent judgments and objective evaluations, with special emphasis on candidates’ scientific and technological innovation achievements, their transformation, and their social or economic value created.
The HK Prize is not a grant, but an annual award for outstanding scientific papers in the fields of astronomy, life science and medicine, and mathematics. The prize money is HK$10,000.
A winner will receive a certificate and a trophy. The prestigious prize is supported by the hongkong government and several private sponsors. In 2023, the HK Prize will include a cash award of HK$100,000 as well as a travel voucher.
HKJC will implement a number of measures to ensure the fairness of the draw, including having employees from the security and customer service departments examine the balls used in the draw on a regular basis. HKJC will also make sure the balls are correctly boxed and transported, as well as locking both the ball and draw machine in a safe location following each drawing. The same set of balls is not used for two consecutive draws.
Prof. Fan Zhiyong, a senior scientist at HKU’s Department of Electronic & Computer Engineering and Chemical & Biological Engineering, is the first Hongkonger to win the Xplorer Prize this year. The prize, backed by Tencent Foundation, encourages young scientists from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau to explore unexplored areas of advanced interdisciplinary research in basic sciences and frontier technologies.
Pulitzer Prize 2020 stirs up controversy among Chinese netizens
The 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography went to Reuters, whose photos of the Hong Kong protests in 2019 showed a one-sided view of the incident. Chinese netizens reacted strongly against the prize and complained about a lack of balance and neutrality. “If those rioters in Hong Kong were in the US, they would have been shot immediately,” read one comment on Sina Weibo.
The HK Phil is honoured to receive this prestigious award. We are very grateful to our supporters including the Hong Kong SAR Government, our principal patron the Swire Group, and music-lovers from all over the world who voted for the HK Phil. The result shows that our audience is as global and diverse as our musicians. We will continue to strive for our goal, which is to bring the finest musical experience to all music-lovers around the world.