China Daily’s PolyU coverage wins World Press Photo nods
A China Daily reporter has been honored with two top awards at the World Press Photo contest for capturing on camera the occupation of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University by radical protesters during the city’s months of social unrest that erupted last summer.
The video “Battleground PolyU”, filmed and produced by veteran multimedia journalist D.J. Clark, captured intense confrontations during a five-day conflict surrounding the campus, including Hong Kong’s major commercial district of Tsim Sha Tsui.
The production was named “interactive of the year” and “outstanding immersive experience” at the 63rd World Press Photo Awards, announced in Amsterdam on Thursday.
“From the moment ‘Battleground PolyU’ starts, you’re in the action, running through the streets of Hong Kong with the protesters,” remarked Zoeann Murphy, who chaired the panel of the 2020 World Press Photo Digital Storytelling Contest.
“It’s an extraordinary experience and a fantastic use of 360-degree video. Filming chaotic protests like this is challenging, but we see how the visual journalist stays steady while navigating the quickly changing dynamics,” the visual journalist added.
Beginning on Nov 15, PolyU was gripped by tension as hundreds of radical protesters occupied the campus, making it their stronghold. Police quickly sealed off the campus, but endured arrows and gasoline bombs fired by rioters both inside and outside the campus as radicals tried to break the police lines.
China Daily’s video captured some of the most intense moments during confrontations around the campus. “Photographs and traditional video can bring us moments from these intense scenes, but this 360-degree piece gives us so much more visual information about what was happening around those moments. Watching ‘Battleground PolyU’ in a headset is exciting, but even scrolling around the scenes in an online browser is incredibly compelling,” Murphy commented.
Clark said he hopes the recording would make it an important historical record of the event putting future audiences in the middle of the action.
The World Press Photo Competition, established in 1955, is regarded as the one of the most prestigious international awards for photojournalism in the world. Since 2011, it has recognized productions with innovative and immersive visual storytelling in its Digital Storytelling Contest.
China Daily has been exploring various innovative technologies for news and public information reporting, including the world’s first interactive video interview using artificial intelligence, which won the newspaper two awards in 2017.