Bangkok Tribune wins SOPA 2026 Honourable Mention in Scoop Award category

Bangkok Tribune Online News Agency has been recognised with an Honourable Mention award at the prestigious Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) 2026 Awards for Editorial Excellence, after being shortlisted from more than 700 entries submitted by global, regional, local, and Chinese media outlets

The award announcement in Hong Kong on Thursday evening saw Bangkok Tribune compete for excellence in local and regional coverage with several outstanding journalists and news outlets before it was given an Honourable Mention award in the “Scoop Award” category.

The entry, “The Poisoned Rivers: From Gold to Rare Earth, Unregulated Mining in Myanmar Poisons the Mekong and Its Tributaries in Northern Thailand,” and its accompanying photo essay, “Living in Fear,” by Piyaporn Wongruang and Sayan Chuenudomsavad, investigated the causes and impacts of transboundary toxic heavy metal contamination in the Mekong River and its tributaries in northern Thailand resulted from unregulated mining activities in Myanmar, which have expanded unabated in recent years.

The mining activities are contaminating the Mekong and its tributaries, including the Kok and Sai Ruak rivers, which are lifelines for local residents in northern Thailand. The investigation explored how this transboundary toxic pollution, driven by global demand for critical minerals in global supply chains, continues without a clear solution.

In granting the award, the judges commented: “There was clearly lots of legwork involved and some strong human elements to bring it to life. A strong piece that brings attention to a largely overlooked transboundary crisis, showing how unregulated mining in Myanmar is contaminating rivers that sustain communities downstream. It stands out for connecting local voices, scientific data and regional geopolitics.”

In early May, SOPA announced the finalists for the SOPA 2026 Awards for Editorial Excellence. Bangkok Tribune made it to the finals, being listed as one of the finalists for the “Scoop Award”.

The organisation said the finalists had been shortlisted from more than 700 entries submitted by global, regional, local, and Chinese media outlets, reflecting both the strength and diversity of journalism across the region. They competed for journalism excellence awards in 21 categories, including investigative reporting, explanatory journalism, breaking news, feature writing, opinion writing, environmental reporting, photography, infographics, public service journalism, and scoops.

“This year’s finalists reflect both the depth of reporting and the evolving priorities of the media landscape across the Asia-Pacific region,” SOPA said.

A total of 115 volunteer judges — comprising current and former journalists and journalism academics from prestigious media organisations and universities around the world, including The New York Times, Reuters, AP, AFP, The Washington Post, The Economist, Bloomberg News, The Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Asian Media Centre, HKU Journalism & Media, Stanford University, and others — contributed their time and expertise to review, assess, and score the entries.

SOPA said the number of submissions from global and regional/local outlets increased year on year, with notable growth in participation from smaller and first-time entrants. A total of 34 small media outlets and first-time entrants from 13 countries and regions submitted 54 entries. Several entries advanced to the final round, including those from Southeast Asia and Bangkok Tribune.

This year marks the 28th consecutive annual awards, which were first held in 1999. Winners were announced on Thursday, June 18, at a celebratory Awards Presentation Gala Dinner in Hong Kong, with Karen Hao, an award-winning New York Times journalist and bestselling author of Empire of AI, delivering the keynote address.

Rich Barbieri, International Business Editor at The New York Times and co-chair of SOPA’s Editorial Committee, said: “The SOPA Awards continue to reflect the vital role of journalism in helping audiences understand an increasingly complex and interconnected world.”

Piyaporn, speaking on behalf of the Bangkok Tribune team, thanked SOPA and the judging panel for recognising the work and selecting it for this prestigious award. “We feel deeply honoured to have received it,” she told SOPA communications staff during a video recording at the event.

Piyaporn also thanked Bangkok Tribune’s supporters, especially the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Thailand Office and the main office in Germany, whom she said had trusted and supported the news outlet over the years. Without such support, Bangkok Tribune would not be where it is today, she said.

In addition, she expressed her intention to thank and share the award with local residents and those who have tirelessly fought against the issue, especially Phra Maha Nikhom, the inspiring abbot of Phawana Nimitra Temple, and his followers, who trusted Bangkok Tribune and shared their courage, fears, and stories with the news outlet, making it possible to tell the story to readers in Thailand and beyond.

“I hope that, after learning about this story, you will be informed and inspired and, if you can, do something about it,” Piyaporn said. “Most importantly,” she added in the video message, “I hope that this serves as a reminder to us all that genuine journalism is still alive in our society, no matter how the media landscape is changing or being transformed, and that you will support it in whatever way you can.”

Bangkok Tribune Online News Agency was founded by Piyaporn, a double award winner of the SOPA Awards in 2014, in early 2020 as a small independent public media outlet focusing on development and environmental issues in Thailand and the Mekong region. In 2021, it was successfully certified as a social business group by the Office of Social Enterprise Promotion (OSEP), making it the country’s first media social enterprise.

The news outlet has been exploring the concept of a small public media outlet that relies on public contributions and support from various organisations to maintain editorial integrity and independence.

As for SOPA, it is a Hong Kong-based not-for-profit organisation founded in 1982 to champion freedom of the press, promote excellence in journalism, and endorse best practices across local and regional publishing platforms in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to the organisation, SOPA is the voice of Asia’s media and publishing industry and continues to work to uphold media standards and freedoms while celebrating and supporting professional journalism and publishing. The SOPA Awards for Editorial Excellence are the organisation’s flagship annual awards, serving as a regional benchmark for quality journalism, and have been presented every year since 1999.

This year’s full Awards Winners list with the judges’ comments can be found at SOPA-2026-Awards-Winner-List. All finalists including the winners can also be found at https://sopawards.com/the-sopa-awards/awards-finalists/