Hong Kong musician Aristo Sham has made history by becoming its inaugural winner at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in the US. Aristo Sham earned a gold medal, US$100,000. and three years of career management with department store chain Neiman Marcus – as well as concert tours both domestically and abroad.

Today (September 25), students from over 40 schools participated in the 8th Inter-school Competition of Study Projects on Hong Kong History and Culture with its presentation ceremony. This competition aimed to foster learning outside school by conducting extensive investigations on topics relevant to Hong Kong’s history and culture.

This year’s competition was opened up to all secondary schools; teachers were invited to nominate up to ten students for consideration; these candidates must have demonstrated exceptional creativity and strong interest in the topic they were studying.

Wong Shiu Chi Secondary School’s team won first prize, followed by teams from Tak Oi Secondary School and Carmel Pak U Secondary School – each received a medal, certificate and grant of HK$10,000 to use towards school development.

He Shusi and Willa Wu of The China Daily earned top awards in both English and Chinese news writing categories for articles that showcased their frontline fight against coronavirus infection. Both stories caused an emotional reaction among judges and readers alike.

Professor Xuhua He from CUHK was recognized with the Life Science Prize for his research in arithmetic geometry and algebraic groups, his spirit of scientific exploration, and potential for innovation. Other Life Science Prize recipients are Drs Ng Siew Chien and Luk Kam-biu for noninvasive tests for gastrointestinal tract and autism spectrum disorders; Zhang Tao, Li Yadong and Wang Cong for contributions made towards phase engineering of nanomaterials as well as 3D microfabrication techniques as well as innovative data and AI security technologies.

Prof Ying-Lun Tsui of the University of Hong Kong was recently named as a Finalist for the Nobel Peace Prize – considered to be one of the world’s highest honours in peace studies and Tsui will attend its awards ceremony in Stockholm on December 10.