The 25th Consumer Rights Reporting Awards

Background

Since its establishment in 2001, the “Consumer Rights Reporting Awards” (CRRA) has been an annual celebrative event organised and hosted by the Consumer Council. The event aims at motivating media to develop and publish news on consumer rights and interests and to advocate for and advance consumer protection policies, in order to raise the general public’s awareness of consumer rights and enhancement of consumer empowerment.

Award Categories

Awards will be presented in the following 9 categories:

1. Feature Writing Award
2. Investigative Reporting Award
3. Audio Reporting Award
4. Video Reporting Award (Short Clip – 5 minutes or under)
5. Video Reporting Award (Long Clip – over 5 minutes)
6. News Photography Award
7. Tertiary Student Journalism Award
8. Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy
9. Topical Reporting Award 2024 – Consumer Rights Beyond Boundaries

In addition to the awards in each category, there is a special award:

• Grand Award: To be chosen among the Gold Awards entries across 7 categories (excluding the “Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy” and “Topical Reporting Award”) by the judging panel.

The topic for the Topical Reporting Award 2025 is Protecting the Consumer Rights of the Silver Generation. Participants can submit entries during the registration period of the next CRRA in 2026.

• With Hong Kong’s aging population, the silver economy is increasingly becoming a key driver of economy growth. The consumption needs of elderly are wide-ranging, spanning medical healthcare, wellness products, smart technology, travel and financial investment, etc. However, the quality of products and services targeting elderly consumers varies significantly, and some unscrupulous traders mislead elderly consumers into purchasing products or services unsuitable for them. It, thus, brings a crucial discussion on how to protect the consumer rights of the elderly, creating a pleasant shopping experience for them and brightening their twilight years.

• Relevant topics include elderly financial management, healthcare, smart home, retirement and elderly care, wellness products, gerontechnology, anti-fraud, elderly consumer traps, exclusive offers and services for the elderly, etc.

Participation Eligibility

• Participating media organisations must have a primary audience or readership based in Hong Kong and have their main business operations based locally.
• Participation in the event is open to journalists, whether directly employed or freelancers, engaged in print, broadcast and web-based media in Hong Kong. Entries may be submitted by journalists in their personal capacity or by media organisations on their behalf.
• The web-based media must be engaged primarily in reporting news and public affairs, and disseminating information to the public and publish news content at least 5 days a week. Both independently operated news websites and websites affiliated with print or broadcast media organisations are qualified.
• Students at local universities or higher education institutes are eligible to participate in the “Tertiary Student Journalism Award” category.
• News media and lifestyle media platforms with Facebook Pages or Instagram accounts meeting the following criteria are eligible to participate in the “Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy” category:
  • the target audience of the Facebook Page / Instagram account is primarily Hong Kong readers;
  • the Facebook Page or Instagram account was established before 1 January 2022 and remains active (with uploads in the 4 weeks preceding 19 March 2025); and
  • the Facebook Page or the Instagram account has at least 110,000 followers and 27,500 followers respectively since (and including) 19 March 2025.
• Web-based media may submit entries which have been published on their websites to participate in all categories, excluding the “Tertiary Student Journalism Award” and “Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy”.

Entry Criteria

• All entries must have been published and disseminated to the public in print or broadcast through broadcasters, web-based media or wire services agencies, in either Chinese or English.
• The entry’s initial publication or broadcast must be between 1 January and 31 December 2024 (both dates inclusive).
• Entries can be an individual report by a journalist or a collaborative report by a team of journalists (with up to 10 members).
• Each entry can only be submitted for one category (excluding Topical Reporting Award).  An entry which integrates a variety of presentation formats, for example, video, audio or photography, shall count as one entry.

• Entries from Categories 1 to 5 may also compete for the “Topical Reporting Award” if the content conforms to the annual topic of 2024.

• An entry comprising a series of works must demonstrate a clear consistent theme throughout.

Platforms participating in the “Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy” category must satisfy the following additional criteria:

• The post must leverage information (such as trade practice, market research reports, test reports, surveys, infographics and video clips) published by the Consumer Council to promote consumer rights.
• Each platform may submit up to 10 entries. If more than 10 entries are submitted, only the first 10 entries (based on the submission time) will be considered valid for review.
• Posts sponsored by commercial organisations, or in the nature of commercial promotion or advertising, will not be accepted.
• Posts which offered any incentive reward to boost engagement or required readers to share/comment/like in order to read its content will not be accepted.
• A valid URL for each entry should be provided, otherwise the application will be deemed invalid.

Entry Submission Requirements

• Fill in the online entry form and upload the digital file of the entry accordingly.
• Name the file in this format: "CRRA_2025_Publishing Media Name_Title of Entry" / “CRRA_2025_Publishing Media Name_Title of Entry_Transcript”.
• Participants must remove or cover unrelated contents in the entry, e.g. irrelevant reporting or advertisements. Submissions must be in high definition or high resolution.
• Upload the file before the entry deadline (30 April 2025), otherwise the application will be deemed invalid.

• Once the online entry form is submitted, details such as the number of participants (a maximum of 10 per entry), names and title of entry cannot be modified.
• Information in the entry forms may be used for production of ceremony-related materials, including but not limited to trophies, certificates, exhibition panels, awards list videos and press materials, etc.
• Please complete and submit one entry form for each entry (except the “Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy” and “Topical Reporting Award”).
• All submissions will be reviewed for conformance with Participation Eligibility, Entry Criteria and Entry Submission Requirements.  Any non-conforming submissions may be rejected by the Council at its absolute discretion and will not proceed to the judging process.
• Journalists and media organisations submitting the entries on their behalf are required to make the Declaration provided on the entry form. The Consumer Council may require participants to make individual Declarations.

Entry Deadline

30 April 2025

Judging Process

The judging is a rigorous three-stage process of initial screening, preliminary judging and final judging, which will be held in May, June to July and September 2025 respectively.

Judging Criteria

• Entries regardless of format, writing style and presentation will be assessed and adjudicated based on the same set of criteria, and must conform with the Entry Criteria and Entry Submission Requirements and adhere to the highest journalistic principles, i.e. honesty, accuracy, objectivity and transparency.
• Entries must be original journalistic works and related to topical consumer issues in Hong Kong.
• Judging criteria: Newsworthiness (Impact to society/consumers), and professionalism (content, presentation skills)

Adjudication Panel

The Adjudication Panel comprises representatives from the Consumer Council, professional organisations and academics in journalism. Panel members include:

• Prof. Francis Lee, Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Ms. May Chan, Special Advisor to the Chairman, Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Limited
• Prof. Ronald Chiu, Associate Dean, School of Communication, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong
• Prof. Peter Kwan, Treasurer and Member of Executive Committee, Journalism Education Foundation
• Mr. Wong Wing Hang, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Hong Kong News-Expo
• Dr. Kaman Lee, Assistant Vice President, Hong Kong Shue Yan University
• Mr. Pun Wai Lam, Associate Professor of Practice, Department of Journalism, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University
• Mr. Kyrus Siu, Director, The Social Investment Consultancy in Greater China
• Dr. Hugo Chan, Associate Dean (China), ​SBS Swiss Business School​
• Prof. Gary Wong, Associate Professor, Director of Centre for Information Technology in Education, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong
• Prof. CM Shun, Adjunct Professor, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Mr. Clement Chan, Chairman, Consumer Council
• Mr. Tony Pang, Chairman of Committee on Sustainability, Public Affairs and Education, Consumer Council
• Ms. Isabella Lau, Co-opted Member of Committee on Sustainability, Public Affairs and Education, Consumer Council
• Ms. Gilly Wong, Chief Executive, Consumer Council
• Mr. Francis Ho, Deputy Chief Executive, Consumer Council

Public Voting

• Public voting shall be introduced for 2 categories — “News Photography Award” and “Tertiary Student Journalism Award”.
• The adjudication panel will shortlist 5 entries from each category, which shall be subject to public voting on an online voting platform to be established by the Consumer Council.
• The score of the adjudication panel shall account for 70% and public vote shall account for 30% of the total score.

Awards

• Each category features a Gold Award, Silver Award, Bronze Award and Merit Award (except the “Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy” and “Topical Reporting Award”).
  • Gold Award: Cash Prize HK$6,000 and a certificate
  • Silver Award: Cash Prize HK$4,000 and a certificate
  • Bronze Award: Cash Prize HK$2,000 and a certificate
  • Merit Award: Cash Prize HK$1,000 and a certificate
• Grand Award: Winner will be awarded a trophy and HK$20,000 cash prize.
• Topical Reporting Award: Winner will be awarded a trophy and HK$20,000 cash prize. Certificates and prizes will be awarded to the top three finalists.
• There are 3 award tiers for the “Best Use of Social Media in Consumer Advocacy” category:
  • Grand Prize (1 awardee):  Cash prize of HK$20,000 and a trophy
  • Best Audience Engagement (3 awardees): Cash prize of HK$4,000 and a certificate
  • Best Presentation (1 awardee): Cash prize of HK$6,000 and a certificate

Other Rules and Terms of Participation

• The winners will be announced at the prize presentation ceremony held in the fourth quarter of 2025. The Council will notify the winners of the arrangement for the prize presentation ceremony.
• If an entry is submitted by or on behalf of a group of entrants, the award for such entry shall be made to the entrants as a team.
• The Council reserves the right of final interpretation of the Participation Eligibility, Entry Criteria, Entry Submission Requirements and Other Rules and Terms of Participation and final decision-making on all matters relating to the event, and the absolute discretion to reject or disqualify any entry or participation in the event. The Council also has the right to at any time vary these rules and terms, the judging process and criteria, or to suspend or terminate the event (or any part thereof, including in relation to any category). The Council shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from such variation, suspension or termination. In the event of any dispute, the Council’s decisions shall be final and binding on all entrants.
• The Council reserves the right not to make any award in any category if the adjudication panel decides that none of the entries meets the required standards for an award.  Decisions of the judges shall be final.
• The Council shall not be liable for and does not assume any legal liability, obligation or responsibility for any direct or indirect loss, damages, costs, expenses, disputes or claims whatsoever and howsoever arising directly or indirectly from or in connection with the 25th Consumer Rights Reporting Awards. Entrants shall bear all legal responsibility arising from their works and the Council shall not be held liable for any legal disputes.
• These rules and terms shall be governed by the laws of the Hong Kong SAR.
• In case of any conflict or discrepancy between the English version and Chinese versions, the Chinese version shall prevail.

Enquiries

Organiser: Consumer Council

Tel: 2856 8569 (William Chan)

WhatsApp Hotline: 5688 8611

Email: crra@consumer.org.hk