State Street honours Asia-Pacific institutional journalists

State Street has announced the winners of its Institutional Press Awards Asia Pacific 2025, which recognise reporting on institutional finance across the region.

The overall Outstanding Contribution to Institutional Journalism Award went to Enoch Yiu of the South China Morning Post. The judging panel recognised him for nearly three decades covering the sector, including work on regulation and investment services.

An independent panel of seven industry professionals selected the winning articles based on style, content, accuracy and timeliness. The panel was chaired by William Mellor, an independent writer and producer who previously worked as a senior writer and Asia correspondent for Bloomberg News.

About 250 submissions were received this year. The awards programme in Asia Pacific began in 2012, following the launch of the London awards in 2002.

Among the English-language category winners, Lee Ying Shan of CNBC won Journalist of the Year for Pensions, while Alex Lynn of Private Equity International took the Investments award. Stephanie Li of DealStreetAsia won Private Markets, Cheryl Heng of Citywire Asia won Alternative Investments, and Daniel Stanton of IFR Asia won Capital Markets.

Andrew Hobbs of AFR won Investor Services, Nurdianah Md Nur of The Edge Singapore won Data, Technology & Artificial Intelligence, and Alfred Lam of the South China Morning Post won Regulation. Tom Taylor of Agri Investor took Sustainable Investments & Stewardship, Hugo Mathers of Capital Brief won Best Newcomer, and Goh Thean Eu of Asia Asset Management won Best Editorial Comment.

Chinese-language winners included Jenna Huang of HK01 for Investments, Yining Xia of Caixin Media for Private Markets & Alternatives, and Li Yen Chiu of Global Views Monthly for Capital Markets. Yaffa Zheng of HK01 won Data, Technology & Artificial Intelligence, Huang Shun Yang of Bloomberg Businessweek/Chinese won Sustainable Investments & Stewardship, and Akie Li of HK01 won Best Newcomer.

Several outlets appeared repeatedly across the winners and highly commended lists, including the South China Morning Post, CNBC, IFR Asia, AVCJ, HK01 and Global Views Monthly. The results reflected the breadth of specialist financial reporting across pensions, markets, private capital, regulation and technology.

Judging panel

The wider judging group included Raymond Li, Professor of Practise and Head of the Department of Journalism at Hong Kong Baptist University; Dr King Au, executive director at the Financial Services Development Council; Lawrence Au, founder and CEO of The LaunchPad.Biz; Allen Cheng, founder and chief adviser of Advise Insight; Jame DiBiasio, author, journalist and media entrepreneur; and Alison Tudor, a former journalist and multimedia editor.

The awards highlighted journalists covering issues that are often technical and less visible to general audiences, particularly in investor services, regulation and institutional investment structures. Yiu was also recognised in other category shortlists, appearing in the highly commended listings for Investor Services and Regulation.

Some journalists were recognised in more than one area. Alex Lynn won Investments and was also highly commended in Investor Services, while Andrew Hobbs won Investor Services and was highly commended in Private Markets. Tom Taylor was highly commended in Investments through Infrastructure Investor and won Sustainable Investments & Stewardship through Agri Investor.

The South China Morning Post performed strongly, with Yiu taking the top individual honour and Alfred Lam winning Regulation. Julie Zhang and Coco Feng were also highly commended in Capital Markets and Data, Technology & Artificial Intelligence, respectively.

CNBC also featured prominently. Lee Ying Shan won Pensions and was highly commended in Regulation, while Priyanka Salve and Lim Hui Jie were highly commended in Capital Markets.

In remarks released with the awards, State Street pointed to the volume of entries and the range of topics covered by journalists across the region. "We are thrilled to celebrate this year's honorees and highly commended journalists for their commitment and excellence in covering pivotal financial issues shaping today's markets," said Stefan Gmuer, Head of Asia Pacific at State Street. "The response was incredible, with around 250 submissions received this year. It is a privilege to acknowledge the essential work journalists do in advancing knowledge and sparking important dialogue throughout the global investment community and beyond."

Mellor said the standard of work remained high across the field. "This year's entries raised the bar once again and demonstrated outstanding ability," he said. "The diversity and caliber of the journalism submitted made our task as judges both deeply rewarding and considerably challenging. We reviewed work that tackled complex topics and provided clear, valuable insights. These awards emphasize the vital role that high-quality journalism plays in keeping the financial community well informed and engaged."