The founding and purpose

of the Foundation

 

In earlier years, the Excellent Journalism Award was the journalism awards under the Golden Bell Awards and the Golden Tripod Awards presented by the Executive Yuan’s Government Information Office. In 2000, Taiwan experienced its first-ever party alteration in a democratic election, after which the new consensus in the journalism industry was that the government should not be giving out awards in journalism. In 2002, several privately-owned corporations pooled donations to found the Foundation for Excellent Journalism Award, with the goals to promote professional journalism and establish standards by presenting annual journalism awards and organizing relevant events.

The foundation launched a grant for seasoned journalists to get published in 2004, encouraging members of the media to work on in-depth writing; in 2008, it started “The Media and Education Newsletter” (which later became the “Excellent Journalism Newsletter” in 2018), reporting on the happenings in the news industry and advancing professionalism for those working in journalism by exploring professionalism and ethics of the industry. The foundation began co-hosting the “Investigative Reporting Workshop” in 2012, increasing the industry’s understanding of investigative reporting and further developing their reporting techniques. Starting in 2013, the “Asian Journalism Forum” is held every year, in which members of the journalism and media sectors from many Asian countries are invited to participate in Taiwan. In 2017 came the addition of the “Excellent Salon”, “The Innovative Forum for Digital Storytelling” etc., inviting Excellent Journalism Award winners and nominees to share their experiences and beliefs in reporting.