Our Reporters Gu Chae-eun and Gong Byung-sun Receive Citi Korea Journalist Award

Top Award in Consumer Finance Sector

Reporters Gu Chae-eun (left) and Gong Byeong-seon of this newspaper, recipients of the '2021 Citi Korea Journalist Award'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Our reporters Koo Chae-eun and Gong Byung-sun received the ‘2021 Citi Korea Journalist Award,’ which is given by Citibank Korea to outstanding articles in the economic and financial sectors written during 2021.

On the 27th, Citibank Korea announced that the judging committee for the ‘2021 Citi Korea Journalist Award’ fairly evaluated a total of 26 submissions across three categories: overall economy, financial markets, and consumer finance, through first and second rounds of judging. The top prize in the consumer finance category was awarded to Asia Economy’s (reporters Koo Chae-eun and Gong Byung-sun) ‘The Swamp of Bad Coins’ investigative article series (Link).

The judging committee praised Asia Economy’s coverage, stating, “It systematically analyzed the limitations of consumers’ understanding and coping abilities regarding the digital economy and related cryptocurrency scam cases, providing in-depth discussions on alternatives and solutions, which offered valuable information for developing related policies.”

Additionally, JoongAng Ilbo’s series ‘The Republic of Financial Fraud Crushing the Dreams of Ordinary People,’ Seoul Shinmun’s ‘2021 Debt Report ? The Coming Counterattack of Debt’ series, and Kukmin Ilbo’s ‘Cryptocurrency Safe Zone’ series received the grand prize, top prize in overall economy, and top prize in financial markets, respectively.

The panel of judges, composed of experts in economics and finance from academia and the media, commented, “Many articles covered timely and engaging topics, and by using easy-to-understand language for complex economic and technical terms, they were very helpful to readers. Especially in the overall economy and consumer finance categories, there were many creative and timely topics, and high-quality works were abundant, including those presenting unprecedented statistics through collaboration with external organizations.”

Established in 1993, the Citi Korea Journalist Award is a prestigious honor given to a total of 88 teams that have produced outstanding articles related to economics and finance. Each winning team will receive a commemorative pure gold plaque worth approximately 5 million KRW.