The Journalism Department of Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) is set to launch the Pulitzer Prize Winners Series Workshop, the first of its kind in Asia, to bring journalists of the highest caliber in the US into its journalism education program. The Workshop plans to invite four to six Pulitzer Prize winners to HKBU each year for a two-week-long series of intellectual activities that include lectures and seminars, meetings with students, media professionals and the public.

The Pulitzer Prizes is regarded as the highest accolade that can be bestowed on an American journalist. It is the most respected annual award in the United States with worldwide recognition. First awarded in 1917, the prizes, named after Joseph Pulitzer, cover major fields of journalism practice including public service, investigative reporting, national reporting, international reporting, feature writing, editorial writing and photojournalism.

The Workshop aims to broaden the vision of the territory's journalistic education in the wake of a series of recent unfortunate press events, not the least of which is the publishing of voyeuristic celebrity photos by a popular weekly magazine, which aroused much public resentment.

"We believe this workshop will elevate the professional standards of journalistic practice and media education in Hong Kong," said journalism Prof. YU Xu at HKBU.

Promotion of exchanges among journalism professionals in the greater China region and their US counterparts "innovatively adds a second classroom for the whole-person education mission at HKBU,"said Prof. CHEN Ling, acting dean of the School of Communication."The workshop will stimulate students in their drive toward world-class standards of performance."