Our ‘runner-up’ winner
> theSun’s Muhammad Ashraf takes home RM1,000 and MPI cert
KUALA LUMPUR: theSun photographer Muhammad Ashraf Shamsul Azlan (pix) bagged one of the consolation prizes for best photo award at the annual Malaysian Press Institute (MPI)-Petronas Malaysian Press Awards 2017.
His photo titled Taking No Chances was only bettered by Irwan Majid of Utusan Malaysia, who took home the Outstanding Photo in Journalism Award.
Muhammad Ashraf shared the consolation prize with Glenn Guan Mun Hoe of The Star, with a total of 43 entries submitted for the category. He took home RM1,000 and a certificate from MPI.
Muhammad Ashraf’s entry was a photo of the Fire and Rescue Department’s Hazardous Materials team (Hazmat) at klia2 during their sweep of the area where Kim Jong-Nam, the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was assassinated.
The photo was taken on an escalator with several Hazmat personnel riding it.
A total of 18 categories were contested at the annual media awards, with 349 entries compared with 216 last year.
Earlier in his speech, Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah urged the media to play a role in educating the public on political education, while assuring media organisations that they would be given greater freedom going forward.
He said compared with the previous government, Pakatan Harapan has pledged to provide greater freedom in its bid to promote matures politics.
“Meaning, if you media practitioners write a news or report, there’s no need to be worried about receiving a phone call from the prime minister’s office, or any other minister for that matter, because we want to promote matured politics in this New Malaysia.
“I hope there won’t be any more incidents of editors being called in just for publishing pictures that certain quarters are not happy with.”