April Rabkin of Fast Company magazine has won the Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism on Asia from the Asia Society for a three-part series of stories illuminating how Chinese society is changing.
The stories are: “Follow the Billionaire,” in which she profiles recycling tycoon Chen Guangbiao and his efforts to transform Chinese philanthropy, “The Social(ist) Networks,” examining the unique role of social networking in China, and “The People’s Education Army,” about a group of elite Beijing high school students.
Rabkin is a Beijing-based contributing writer for Fast Company, covering leading business figures and social trends in China.
The $10,000 cash prize will be presented at an evening program on May 21 at Asia Society in New York. Five finalists will also be honored.
“April Rabkin’s three-part series captures the flavors and nuances of the lives of real people in fast-changing China, from the angst of social networking behind the great firewall, to nouveau rich billionaires who want to be the world’s biggest philanthropists, to nerdy yet pampered teens with big dreams,” said Norman Pearlstine, chief content officer at Bloomberg News and former editor-in-chief of Time Inc., who chairs the jury for the prize, in a statement. “The jury was impressed by how her vibrant and effervescent writing enhanced her insightful look at the human side of one of the biggest social and economic transformations of our time.”
One of the finalists was a team of Reuters reporters — Ryan Vlastelica, Daniel Bases, Clare Baldwin, Mark Bendeich, David Gaffen, Carlyn Kolker, Rachel Armstrong, Allison Martell, Martin Howell, Jim Impoco, Claudia Parsons, and Michael Williams — for a series including “Chinese Stock Scams are the Latest U.S. Import.”
