Asian Scientist Team Wins Six Prizes At The 2017 MPAS Awards

Asian Scientist Magazine, Supercomputing Asia and the Asian Scientist Writing Prize all received top honors at the 2017 MPAS Awards.

AsianScientist (Sep. 27, 2017) – For connecting the best and most exciting science and technology stories from Asia to a global audience, the Asian Scientist team received six prizes at the Media Publishers Association Singapore (MPAS) Awards and Media Ball 2017.

Held at the Fullerton Hotel Singapore on 26 September, the prestigious event was graced by Mr. Dmytro Senik, ambassador of Ukraine to Singapore, Mr. Ho Sum Kwong, the founding president of MPAS and Cavalier Giovanni Viterale, general manager of The Fullerton Hotel Singapore, among others.

As a non-profit trade association consisting of 50 publisher members who collectively produce more than 300 consumer, business and customer publications, MPAS supports and upholds the highest editorial and ethical standards of print and digital content production. Its annual MPAS Awards honors outstanding media publishers in Singapore, acknowledging the significant accomplishments, exceptional talents and best practices of Singapore’s magazine publishing industry.

“Today, we have a record number of entries in the MPAS awards,” said Mr. Olivier Burlot, the elected president of MPAS. “We have 200 entries with over 40 companies fighting for awards. It tells you how alive, how healthy the scene is.”



A pioneer in science communications in the region

The Asian Scientist team was recognized with six prizes for their excellent quality of content and production; Asian Scientist Magazine won the Science Media Of The Year, Education Media Of The Year and Education Project Of The Year prizes; Supercomputing Asia won the Science Trade Media Of The Year and Technology Trade Media Of The Year prizes; and the Asian Scientist X PHD Comics: Where Art and Science Collide event won the Science Project Of The Year prize.

Its flagship publication, Asian Scientist Magazine first went into print in January 2014, after it received early investment from World Scientific Publishing Company, Singapore’s largest science and technology publisher.

As the first general science magazine dedicated to science and technology from the Asian community, Asian Scientist Magazine not only serves as a platform for showcasing important science and technology developments from the region, it also seeks to bring complex scientific concepts out of the labs to the man-on-the-street.

On receiving the Science Media Of The Year, Education Media Of The Year and Education Project Of The Year awards, Dr. Juliana Chan, editor-in-chief of Asian Scientist Magazine, said, “We have come a long way since the magazine began. We are thankful to the MPAS judging committee for recognizing our efforts at highlighting the exceptional science coming out of Asia.”

The company’s most recent print title, Supercomputing Asia, also bagged the Science Trade Media Of The Year and Technology Trade Media Of The Year prizes. Produced in partnership with the National Supercomputing Centre Singapore, the inaugural issue focused on Asia’s rapid rise in the arena of high performance computing. Supercomputing Asia will continue to serve as the one-stop resource for significant milestones and trends in supercomputing in the region.

“Supercomputers are now an integral part of scientific research, helping us to understand everything from the smallest particles to the entire galaxy,” said Dr. Rebecca Tan, editor-in-chief of Supercomputing Asia. “We hope that our win will help to highlight the importance of supercomputing to the research enterprise and help make it accessible to a wider audience.”



Finding synergy between science and the arts

Aside from producing high quality print and digital publications, the Asian Scientist team is also actively building the science communications industry in Asia and advocating for scientific literacy among the general public.

As part of this mission, the team organized the Asian Scientist Writing Prize, a biannual competition to promote science communication. Held for the second time in 2017, the event attracted more than 200 entries and gave out S$16,000 in prizes. The 2017 edition of the Asian Scientist Writing Prize won MPAS’ Education Project of the Year.

Another outreach event, called Asian Scientist X PHD Comics: Where Art and Science Collide, was recognized with the Science Project of The Year Award. The main event, a public masterclass on science communications by popular American cartoonist Dr. Jorge Cham of PHD Comics, was attended by more than 300 people.

As part of his visit to Singapore, Cham also gave a speech at the 2017 Asian Scientist Writing Prize awards ceremony and met a select group of fans at a closed door meet and greet session held at the Asian Scientist office.

“They say a picture paints a thousand words. Science and art can complement each other, and science communications can take any form,” said Chan. “We look forward to hosting more of such events to bring science to a wider audience.”



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Copyright: Asian Scientist Magazine.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

Jeremy received his PhD from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, where he studied the role of the tumor microenvironment in cancer progression.

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