Prize-winning journalists from The Phnom Penh Post will be presented with their awards tonight by David Armstrong, the chairman of Post Media Co Ltd.

The Phnom Penh Post was a big winner when the Society of Publishers in Asia, or SOPA, presented 79 awards for outstanding journalism at its annual SOPA Awards for Editorial Excellence in Hong Kong recently.

The Post’s three awards arrived in Phnom Penh this week and will be presented to the winning journalists at the exclusive invitation-only Finishing Post function tonight by the chairman of the board.

Cambodia’s only award-winning newspaper won the top prize in two categories and received an Honorary Mention in a third category.

The SOPA Awards for Editorial Excellence were established in 1999 to encourage editorial vitality, raise journalistic standards and support free speech throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

The Phnom Penh Post won first prize in the Breaking News and Multimedia categories.

In the Breaking News category – a crucial and hotly contested field – our coverage of the Koh Pich stampede won the top award.

In the Multimedia section, our coverage of the Duch trial at the Khmer Rouge tribunal took first place in yet another hotly contested category. Reporter David Boyle will collect the award.

The Phnom Penh Post also received an Honourary Mention for a business story  written by deputy news editor James O’Toole that highlighting a suspicious investment firm that had started up in the city  to receive an Honourary Mention means The Post’s  story made it into the final three for the main award, but finished a very close second.