ST scores one gold and two silvers at Asian Media Awards

When rumours swirled in late March that national swimmer Joseph Schooling was planning to retire, The Straits Times' creative department went into full gear, producing what would become an award-winning artwork.

- Fatmah Khan

The infographic, titled From Boy To Champion, tells the coming-of-age story of Singapore's first Olympic gold medallist in the men's 100m butterfly at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

It was published on April 3, a day after Schooling announced his retirement from swimming competitively on April 2 on social media.

The Japanese manga-styled piece was created in under a week by senior executive infographics journalist Chng Choon Hiong, executive artist Billy Ker and senior sports correspondent David Lee.

The infographic won silver for Best Newspaper Infographics at the 23rd edition of the Asian Media Awards, organised by the World Association of News Publishers (Wan-Ifra), on Nov 6.

The team decided to streamline the key milestones into 15 frames to keep the story tight.

"We spent a significant amount of time experimenting with different manga styles and portrait compositions before landing on this approach that balances artistry with journalistic storytelling," said Mr Chng.