The Star bags two prizes at Health Media Awards 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: The Star bagged two awards in the English newspaper category at the 11th Health Media Awards 2017 on Thursday.  

Photographer Azman Ghani took home the main prize for his moving image titled "Aedes to Zika and we don't care" which featured a group of school children walking past a puddle of water at a low-cost housing project. 

"It was just for a split second, when I saw the sun's rays reflecting on the puddle of water and I knew I had to take the picture.I t was about being there at the right time and place," said Azman who has been a photographer with The Star for 10 years. 

Assistant features editor Tan Shiow Chin took home a consolation prize on her story about a procedure called haplo-identical bone marrow transplant.

"I am very happy this story won the prize because it is a good combination of human interest elements and the science behind it," said Tan.

Azman won RM1,500 and a certificate while Tan took home RM500 and a certificate.

The awards were presented by Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya.

Also present were the ministry's director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Chen Chaw Min.

Dr Hilmi said in his speech that the media plays a vital role in spreading and creating more awareness in society, especially on health matters.  

"As people say, the thing that is wonderful about the media is that we are able to give a voice to the voiceless and help educate each other," said Dr Hilmi. 

He added that it is vital to create awareness about preventing diseases and the management of health. 

"This is where the media plays a role in helping the ministry to spread awareness and information about health so that the public can take better care of themselves," he said at the award presentation.  

Dr Hilmi also acknowledged that there was an increase in the number of submissions this year compared with previous years. 

This year, the ministry received  a total of 346 submissions for 16 different categories such as print, electronic media, social media and special jury awards among others.