The Financial Times picked up four first-place wins and three honourable mention prizes at the 2012 Society of Publishers in Asia Editorial Excellence Awards held in Hong Kong last night.

The awards highlight editorial excellence in both traditional and new media and are designed to honour and encourage editorial vitality and innovation throughout the region. They cover a broad range of categories reflecting Asia’s diverse geo-political environment and vibrant editorial scene.

First place wins:

• The Scoop Award – Jonathan Soble and Louise Lucas for “The Olympus Scandal”
• Excellence in Human Rights Reporting – Patti Waldmeir, Shirley Chen, Kathrin Hille, Amy Kazmin and Girija Shivakumar for “One-Child policy and Gender Imbalances in China”
• Excellence in Opinion Writing – David Pilling for his weekly Asia column
• Excellence in Reporting on the Environment – Mure Dickie, Jonathan Soble and Clive Cookson for “Japan’s Nuclear Crisis”

Honourable mention prizes:

• Excellence in Human Rights Reporting – Rahul Jacob, Jamil Anderlini, Zhou Ping and Ben Marino for “Wukan”
• Excellence in Feature Writing – Patti Waldmeir and Shirley Chen for “Little Girl Found”
• Excellence in Multimedia News Presentation – Mure Dickie, Demetri Sevastopulo, Josh Noble & the FT’s Interactive and Video Editing Teams for “Japan’s March 11 Earthquake and Tsunami”

More information on the SOPA Awards and the full list of 2012 winners can be found at http://www.sopasia.com/awards/2012-awards/.