The International Journalism Programme (IJ) of DHSS held the 3rd Pulitzer Prize Winner Workshop on Monday, 9th November at the High Table Dinner Hall of UIC. Three winners of the US media industry's most prestigious award were invited to share their insights with College members, students, and the public. They are Damon Winter, winner of 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Feature photography, Ms. Connie Schultz, winner of 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary and Mr. Hank Klibanoff, winner of 2007 Pulitzer Prize for History.
In the Open Forum, Ms. Schultz, Mr. Hank Klibanoff and Mr. Damon Winter talked about their own fields of working in journalism commentary, history and photography respectively. Students were inspired in the panel discussion and their questions ranged from interview skills to journalism ethics. A Year 3 student asked Mr. Winter how to make the interviewee say something useful. Mr. Winter explained that some daily life communication was needed to build up a relationship by taking his photo portfolio of sexually abused people for instance. Ms. Schultz responded more on the objectivity in reporting. She said "Journalists are first human being. It is a responsibility for journalists to dig for truth but always with respect on other people." Mr. Klibanoff added that confidence was the most significant thing. All of them emphasized "balance" and "fairness" in news reporting.
After the Open Forum, Mr. Hank Klibanoff gave a lecture on investigative journalism to year-four students of IJ. Meanwhile, Mr. Damon Winter displayed some of his prize-winning works on the topic of President Barack Obama's Historic road to the Whitehouse and shared his stories of being a photojournalist. He also gave a speech to CTV students in the afternoon on photographing skills.
Executive Vice President of UIC Prof. Kwok gave a closing speech and presented the guests souvenirs.
The Workshop, a unique initiative in Asia, was first launched by HKBU with the support from the Hong Kong Economic Journal Co. in 2007. It's held both at HKBU and UIC.
Reporter: Sunny Xiao, Wu Chu
Editor: Richard Xu
Video Production: Sunny Xiao
Media and Communication Office
