South China Morning Post announces 11 winners of the Spirit of Hong Kong Awards

HONG KONG, November 26, 2013 – Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor provided the opening speech for the Hong Kong Spirit Awards ceremony last night at a VIP gala dinner recognising the eleven award winners.

The Spirit of Hong Kong Awards is one of the highlights of South China Morning Post’s Celebrating Hong Kong initiative, inspired by their 110th Year Anniversary. The awards are the culmination of seven months of editorial features about unsung heroes, and were given to ten individuals that were selected by a panel of VIP judges, with an 11th award selected by reader poll, voted the People’s Choice Award.

groupsite_Winners with Robin Hu, SCMP Group CEO (far left) and Dr David Pang, SCMP Group Chairman (far right)
The awards recognise everyday unsung heroes, individuals who have inspired others with their extraordinary achievements, dedication to a cause, acts of kindness or community spirit. “The Spirit of Hong Kong Awards stand for the spirit of people who have made Hong Kong what she is today, that can-do spirit, that perseverance, that never-give-up spirit, in a very low profile manner; they are not people seeking glory, vanity or publicity” remarked Mrs Lam.

Sir David Akers-Jones, the Chairman of the Judging Panel of the awards made an emotional speech in which he lamented not being able to award all the thousands of deserving, ordinary people, who quietly each day represent the spirit of our city; from bamboo scaffolders to tram drivers, and from doctors and nurses to those struggling through great hardship.

The winners included heroes such as Lee Ming-sun, who made a tough decision to rescue a drowning man during the Lamma ferry disaster last year rather than search for his wife. Carmen Yau Ka-man, a victim of the degenerative disease Spinal Muscular Atrophy, gave a stirring speech about using what little time she has left with the use of her limbs to help others who are worse off. Despite suffering a disease that will ultimately deprive her of all muscle function, she travels daily to work, often waiting 45 minutes or longer at a bus stop for a bus with wheelchair access.

Blind student Mandy Tsang Tsz-kwan, who is also hearing impaired and lacks sensitivity in her fingers, scored top marks in her exams despite having to study by lip-reading Braille. “I was not born with the spirit of Hong Kong. Rather, it is the result of the nurturing of my parents, my alma maters, my teachers …all their help and support has fostered my positive attitude and determination” she remarked in her exceptionally mature and poignant speech, “having gone through all the challenges all these years, I must keep up my efforts in order not to waste all the efforts of the people around me who have nurtured me wholeheartedly.”

Two senior gentlemen won the evening’s last two awards. Pastor Lee Mo Fan, an octogenarian who has spent over half a century providing shelter and care for elderly men who are abandoned by their families and forced to live rough, welcomed to his homes any elderly men that the audience witnessed needing help. Kan Yiu Kwong, erstwhile telephone repairman, visited a disaster struck Sichuan in 1994, only to find his help was not needed. However, he saw crumbling buildings and decided to assemble groups of friends to help him build schools in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, some of the poorest, most inhospitable and remote regions, where he has to this day built over 1100 schools and 250 clinics.

The Spirit of Hong Kong initiative, sponsored by Sino Group, went further than the hundred-plus editorial stories published by the South China Morning Post. Net proceeds from its sponsorship also resulted in a charitable donation of HK$750,000 to three charities focused on the poorest in Hong Kong, SoCo, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and St James’ Settlement, selected as charity partners for SCMP’s Celebrating Hong Kong programme of activities.

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Full list of winners

Lee Ming-sun
Lamma ferry disaster hero
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1299350/heros-instincts-took-over-world-turned-upside-down

Chan Kit-ying
Director of services for Mothers’ Choice
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1295983/small-miracles-how-hundreds-babies-left-squalid-orphanage-found

Willy Law Wai-cheung
Disabled rights advocate
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1315463/independent-thinker-unfazed-his-disability

Kan Yiu-kwong
Grace Charity foundation builder of 1100 schools and 250 clinics in rural China.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1325908/hongkongers-reach-out-across-border

Tsang Tsz-kwan
Top scoring blind, hearing and touch-impaired student
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1330982/blind-students-words-speak-grit-and-spirit

Elsa Tse Ngar-yee
Ex-addict who helps young female drug abusers
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1297597/angel-temple-street

Carmen Yau Ka-man
SMA sufferer dedicated to helping others
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1317518/carmen-yau-amazing-work-progress

Jenny Law Chun-heung
Beautician who has given free haircuts for 27 years for the sick and elderly
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1167045/hospital-hair-doctor-cuts-free-grantham-hospital

Pastor Lee Mo Fan
Sheltering homeless elderly men for over 50 years.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1286480/homeless-man-86-finds-peaceful-place-call-home

Elana Ho Tsao Yuk-lan
Founder of Starfish Charitable Foundation, giving free cleft palate, heart disease and other operations to poor children in China.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1333815/ordinary-mum-extraordinary-mission

Jill Robinson
Winner of People’s Choice Award
Bear bile trade activist and Dr Dog programme
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1327810/one-womans-battle-end-bear-bile-trade

References:
Website: www.celebratinghk.com/spirit

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