She won awards in four out of six English-language categories.
Rebecca (2nd left) with her award. Looking on is Sabah Journalist Association president Datuk Mugunthan Vanar (right) and Organising committee manner Richard Unto ( left).
KOTA KINABALU – Rebecca Chong, a journalist from Sandakan and a writer for online news portal Scoop.my, has emerged as one of the biggest winners at the Kinabalu Press Award 2024, taking home two Gold and two Merit awards last Sunday.
Chong won the prestigious Sports Journalism Award (Gold) with her story on Nur Aishah Rofina Aling, a 24-year-old sprinter from Sandakan.
Titled “Nur Aishah’s Unyielding Journey: From Overlooked Talent to Sprinting Sensation,” the article highlighted Nur Aishah’s journey from an unrecognised talent to winning medals at major events, such as the Asean University Games.
In the Environmental Journalism category, Chong secured her second Gold with an investigative report, “How Safe is Sandakan’s Water? Concerns Over Run-Off from Plantations, Mills Resurface,” which addressed the pollution crisis affecting Sg Segaliud, Sandakan’s primary water source.
Chong also received Merit awards in the Entertainment, Culture and Arts Reporting category and the Journalism Award for Feature and News Feature. In total, she won awards in four out of six English-language categories.
Reflecting on her achievements, Chong expressed, “I am very lucky to have been given the opportunity and platform to write for national readers. As a journalist based in Sandakan, Sabah, this opportunity is rare.
“Sabah has so many stories to tell, but to this day, news penetration at the national level remains somewhat limited. The people of Sabah deserve to have their voices heard too, and I was glad to have been part of a team open to telling the Sabah narrative.”
Chong’s journalism career began in 2012 with the Sabah government’s online news portal, Insightsabah.com. She later joined The Borneo Post in 2013, where she refined her skills for seven years before moving to the national news portal TheVibes.com. She started joining Scoop last year.
Her latest achievements add to a long list of accolades:
• 2023: Two Golds in Entertainment, Culture and Arts Reporting and Sports Journalism, along with three Merits.
• 2022: Six Merit Awards in categories like News Reporting and Environmental Journalism.
• 2021: A Gold in the Sabah Covid-19 News Award and two Merits.
Rebecca Chong’s success at the Kinabalu Press Award 2024 is a testament to her commitment to bringing the stories of Sabah to the forefront and giving a voice to the people of her, home state.
