Lake Fong’s Journalism Team Wins Pulitzer Prize for “Breaking News Reporting”
Date :
2019-04-29
Department :
Secretariat
By The Secretariat and Dpt. of Journalism
Recipients of the highest honor of US Journalism, the Pulitzer Prize, were announced on April 16 (Taipei time). The winner of the “Breaking News Reporting” category was the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Among its members is Lake Fong (方秋湖), the 50th alumnus of the NCCU Dpt. of Journalism. “Fong is most probably the first graduate to gain such an honor, which is really no small feat,” said Pai-Lin Chen (陳百齡), the Dean of the Dpt. of Journalism, NCCU.
The winning piece was a report on the mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in October 2018, which left 11 dead 7 others wounded. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published a series of news reports in the weeks after the shooting. Team members divided up their tasks professionally, and produced news items in various formats, including texts, videos, pictures and charts. The Pulitzer Prize website explains how they won the prize “for immersive, compassionate coverage of the massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue that captured the anguish and resilience of a community thrust into grief.”
Fong was an overseas Chinese student from Hong Kong. After graduating in 1990, he began working in Taiwan. In 1994, he pursued a master’s degree at Ohio State University, during which he received an awarded in the US National Professional Photographers Contest. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette subsequently hired him as a full-time photojournalist, where he has worked till today. It has been 25 years since Fong entered journalism, and he always insisted on the importance of being true to one’s passion. “The life of a journalist is not dull; other people’s stories can make our life more wonderful, more humble.” he stated.
Fong’s former classmate, currently photography supervisor at Mirror Media Kuo-Wei Chung (鍾國偉), spoke of Fong as a humorous person, who guided Chung to develop his photography skills while they were in college. “Even though the world is changing, we still need skilled photographers such as Fong”, he said.
Despite initially only giving out awards for the category of public service, the Pulitzer Prize now issues a total of 14 awards in journalism and 7 others in letters, drama, and music. Prize recipients are not restricted by nationality, yet their works must be published in the US Weekly newspaper (or daily newspaper). The dedication of Fong and his team in this prize-winning series of news reports has allowed the entire body of NCCU faculty, students and alumni to collectively share in the honor.
Recipients of the highest honor of US Journalism, the Pulitzer Prize, were announced on April 16 (Taipei time). The winner of the “Breaking News Reporting” category was the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Among its members is Lake Fong (方秋湖), the 50th alumnus of the NCCU Dpt. of Journalism. “Fong is most probably the first graduate to gain such an honor, which is really no small feat,” said Pai-Lin Chen (陳百齡), the Dean of the Dpt. of Journalism, NCCU.
The winning piece was a report on the mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in October 2018, which left 11 dead 7 others wounded. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published a series of news reports in the weeks after the shooting. Team members divided up their tasks professionally, and produced news items in various formats, including texts, videos, pictures and charts. The Pulitzer Prize website explains how they won the prize “for immersive, compassionate coverage of the massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue that captured the anguish and resilience of a community thrust into grief.”
Fong was an overseas Chinese student from Hong Kong. After graduating in 1990, he began working in Taiwan. In 1994, he pursued a master’s degree at Ohio State University, during which he received an awarded in the US National Professional Photographers Contest. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette subsequently hired him as a full-time photojournalist, where he has worked till today. It has been 25 years since Fong entered journalism, and he always insisted on the importance of being true to one’s passion. “The life of a journalist is not dull; other people’s stories can make our life more wonderful, more humble.” he stated.
Fong’s former classmate, currently photography supervisor at Mirror Media Kuo-Wei Chung (鍾國偉), spoke of Fong as a humorous person, who guided Chung to develop his photography skills while they were in college. “Even though the world is changing, we still need skilled photographers such as Fong”, he said.
Despite initially only giving out awards for the category of public service, the Pulitzer Prize now issues a total of 14 awards in journalism and 7 others in letters, drama, and music. Prize recipients are not restricted by nationality, yet their works must be published in the US Weekly newspaper (or daily newspaper). The dedication of Fong and his team in this prize-winning series of news reports has allowed the entire body of NCCU faculty, students and alumni to collectively share in the honor.