The Phnom Penh Post has continued its stellar track record at the annual Society of Publishers in Asia awards, taking four awards including journalist of the year.

The three top awards and one honourable mention took the Post’s tally of international accolades to 16 in the past five years. The awards were given on Thursday at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, in the locally published, English-language category for newspapers or magazines with a small circulation.

Most notably, May Titthara won the journalist of the year award for excellence for his vast and intrepid body of work in 2012 that saw him almost constantly travelling and taking significant personal risks to apply tough scrutiny to the rich and powerful in Cambodia.

Tom Brennan and Don Weinland won the business reporting award for excellence for their story Leopard’s fishy business, which shone light on the manoeuvrings of a private investment fund that allegedly sank a seafood processing venture for its own financial gain.

May Titthara, David Boyle, Derek Stout, Vireak Mai and Sen David also took an award for excellence in the breaking news category for coverage of the Bavet shoe factory shootings, a case that remains unresolved and highly controversial.

For uncovering details of a still unreleased corruption probe by the Global Fund into alleged kickbacks and malfeasance by government fund recipients, Abby Seiff and David Boyle received an honourable mention in investigative reporting.

Post English-language editor-in-chief Alan Parkhouse said he was proud of his staff and the recognition they had received.

“I am particularly proud that one of our Cambodian reporters, May Titthara, won the top prize for one of the best reporters in the region,” he said. “To win so many prizes in such a tough competition shows what a quality product we have and is the result of great teamwork in our newsroom.”

The Post’s sister paper The Myanmar Times took home three awards.