Elena Chong

Ms Elena Chong spent nearly five decades reporting key moments in Singapore's criminal history for The Straits Times.

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Joining as a cadet journalist in May 1972, she retired as court correspondent in 2018.

In the 1970s, she covered high-profile cases such as the Gemini Chit Fund scandal, where executives were accused of misappropriating $3.2 million from a fund with 50,000 members. It was dubbed the "swindle of the century". She also reported on the Robinsons department store fire in 1972, which claimed nine lives in one of Singapore's worst fires.

Over the years, Ms Chong, now 73, covered thousands of cases, from violent crimes to white-collar offences like fraud and embezzlement. Before journalism, she worked as a stenographer, and her shorthand skills proved invaluable in the courtroom.

Reporting, to me, was exciting and challenging. In the early days, we used manual typewriters to write our articles, and had to have three or four carbon copies.