Accomplishments

Journalism student claims Commendation Award at inter-collegiate documentary competition

Ada Hui (Broadcast Journalism, Year 4) won the Commendation Award for her work entitled “A love as myself” at the 2017 TVB Inter-Collegiate Documentary Competition. HKBU students have won an award at this annual competition every single year since it was launched in 2014.

“A love as myself” is about a transgender person’s struggle resulting from his family’s vigorous opposition to his sex reassignment. At one stage he had also not accepted that his boyfriend should undergo the same surgery.

Ada said that Hong Kong society used to discuss transgender issues a lot but then the issue became less talked about, without any apparent reason. So Ada contacted the related organisations, talked with transgender cases, and conducted comprehensive research to learn more about this topic. Through producing her report, she has learnt a great deal about the complicated feelings experienced by transgender people and their family members.

Ada said that transgender people suffer great psychological pain. They always think that they were born with the wrong sex and live in inappropriate bodies. Some of them even face discrimination in their work places. On top of this, once their family members and friends cannot accept their situation, they can easily take the slippery road to ruin. The fact that most of their family members are against their sex reassignment surgeries is partly to their being unable to accept the sudden changes, but more likely it is because they love and worry so much about them. In these situations, two-way communication between them is all-important so that an understanding can be reached.

Ada took six months to complete the documentary, which involved writing the story line, researching the information, arranging interviews and the post production work. For her, getting potential interviewees to talk was the most difficult part. “Many transgender people hide their identity during their daily lives. In addition, painful feelings are stirred up once they talk about their experience in detail, so they reject being interviewed outright.” However thanks to Ada’s sincerity in her approach and her detailed preparation, she won their trust and was able to complete her report.

Ada is extremely grateful to Mr Fung Tak-hung and Mr Sum Wan-wah, Part-time Lecturers of the Department of Journalism, for their guidance throughout the production. She also thanked Ms Bonnie Chiu, Associate Head, and Mr Bruce Lui, Senior Lecturer of the Department, for their help over the past few years. “They helped me a lot to improve my report angle, editing the content and making the voiceover, all of which helped to enhance the film’s impact,” she said.

Now in its fourth year, the competition presents three awards – a Grand Jury Prize and two Commendation Awards. Participants from local tertiary institutions are required to produce a documentary of around nine minutes on Hong Kong social issues, made in compliance with the Generic Code of Practice on Television Advertising Standards. The winning work will be aired on 2 September on TVB Jade.

	Ada Hui wins the Commendation Award at the 2017 TVB Inter-Collegiate Documentary Competition