Press Release
HKBU to present Distinguished Alumni Award to Amy Cheung, Felix Chong, Iu Vai-pan and Cartier Lam
Wednesday, 30 Jan 2019
HKBU announced today (30 January) that it will present its sixth annual Distinguished Alumni Award to four outstanding alumni. This year's recipients are Ms Amy Cheung Siu-han (張小嫻) (Communication), Mr Felix Chong Man-keung (莊文強) (Communication – Film/Video), Professor Iu Vai-pan (姚偉彬) (Civil Engineering) and Dr Cartier Lam Chi-man (林志民) (Geography).
The Award was established to recognise the outstanding business, professional or scholarly achievements of the recipients, and their service and contributions to the University and society. The Award also aims to motivate current students to learn from the awardees' valuable experiences and successes. An award presentation ceremony will be held in March.
This year, the Selection Committee for the Award was chaired by Mr Cheng Yan-kee, former Chairman of the Council and the Court of HKBU, and included Professor Roland Chin, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKBU; Ms Quince Chong, Chief Corporate Development Officer of CLP Power Hong Kong Limited; Mr Lester Garson Huang, Co-Chairman of P C Woo & Co; and Ms Viola Man, Executive Director of PuraPharm Corporation Limited.
Brief introduction to the Distinguished Alumni Award recipients
Ms Amy Cheung (Communication)
Ms Amy Cheung is a popular Hong Kong writer. Having graduated from the Department of Communication at Hong Kong Baptist College, she was a scriptwriter at Television Broadcasts Limited and Asia Television Limited. Amy received the Youth Literary Award in Hong Kong, and founded the first-ever local female magazine Amy and was its Chief Editor.
As an author, Amy is well known for endearing herself to readers through her vivid portrayal of her character's emotions, especially with regards to romance and love. She was a columnist for the newspaper Ming Pao and became famous for her first novel Women on the Breadfruit Tree. Later she launched the much-acclaimed Hummingbirds Fly Backwards and the bestseller The Single Bed in a Small Bag, and became one of the best-known romance novelists in Hong Kong.
Famous for her books on love and relationships, Amy's novels have also been adapted for the screen. The dramas and films I Have You This Life, For Love or Money and My Spicy Girl were released on the Mainland, and Fagara was also released in Hong Kong.
She has been one of the top 10 best-selling authors on the Mainland for many years and has enjoyed high popularity in the Kingstone Bookstore in Taiwan, as well as on the bestsellers list in Hong Kong. She has published more than 40 novels and essays, and her books have been translated into Japanese, Korean, English, Thai and Vietnamese. Her words about love have won her many fans in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. She is known as an intimate friend of Chinese people all over the world and is now an influential blogger on Weibo with more than 64 million followers.
Mr Felix Chong (Communication – Film/Video)
Mr Felix Chong is a renowned movie director and screenwriter from Hong Kong. He graduated from the School of Communication at Hong Kong Baptist College. Before embarking on a career in the movie industry, Felix worked as a copywriter and script supervisor at Television Broadcasts Limited. To his credit, he has created more than 20 screenplays.
Among his award-winning masterpieces, the much acclaimed Infernal Affairs trilogy scooped the award for Best Screenplay and also won numerous other awards in various categories at the Hong Kong Film Awards, Golden Bauhinia Awards and Hong Kong Screenwriters' Guild. Infernal Affairs was also remade by Hollywood filmmaker Martin Scorsese as The Departed, and it won four Oscars in 2007. Felix's other renowned screenplays include the Initial D, a top-grossing film in Asia and Confession of Pain, which earned a nomination at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
In 2011, Felix's directorial debut, Once A Gangster, won him the award for Best New Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards. He also received a number of awards and nominations for the series Overheard along with his partner Mr Alan Mak, including the Recommended Screenplay from the Hong Kong Screenwriters' Guild and the Recommended Movie from the Hong Kong Film Critics Society in 2009, 2011 and 2014 respectively. Overheard 3 also won the Best Screenplay at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2015. Another creation, entitled The Silent War, earned Felix a nomination for Best Screenplay at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2013. In 2018, his film Project Gutenberg, which he also directed, received several public accolades.
Felix has contributed greatly to the Academy of Film, which is part of the School of Communication at HKBU, serving as adjudicator, advisor and visiting lecturer. He has also spoken at alumni sharing forums and contributed to the HKBU 60th anniversary celebration events. In 2008, he received the Distinguished Alumni Communicator Award (Film, Television and Culture category) from HKBU. Since 2015, he has served as a Member of the Hong Kong Film Development Council and Member of the Advisory Committee on Admission of Quality Migrants and Professionals. He was awarded a Medal of Honour in 2016 by the HKSAR Government for his tireless promotion of the Hong Kong film industry and for nurturing new film talents.
Professor Iu Vai-pan (Civil Engineering)
Professor Iu Vai-pan is the College Master of Stanley Ho East Asia College and Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Macau (UM). He graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering at Hong Kong Baptist College, and subsequently received a Master's degree in Advanced Structural Engineering from the University of Southampton in the UK and a PhD in Civil Engineering from The University of Hong Kong.
Following his PhD, Professor Iu participated in postdoctoral research at the University of Calgary in Canada and The University of Hong Kong, before joining the University of East Asia in Macau (now UM). During his 30 years of service at UM, Professor Iu has served as the Associate Dean and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology. He also served as Rector from 1999 to 2008, during which time he led UM to develop into an international university.
As a devoted academic, Professor Iu has always been passionate about teaching and mentoring, and has continued to teach during his rectorship. He was the first scholar from Macau to be appointed a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers. His structural mechanics and vibration research has been published in top academic journals and his research achievements in nonlinear stochastic dynamical systems have earned him a Natural Science Award (Second Prize) in Macau.
Closely affiliated with HKBU, Professor Iu has been actively promoting academic and student exchange between HKBU and UM. He has lent great support to various international university organisations by serving as President of the Association of Universities of Asia and the Pacific, Vice-President of the International Association of University Presidents, and Board Member of the United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology.
Professor Iu has also participated actively in community and public services. He is currently the President of the Association of Affiliated School of UM; Member of the Trustee Committee of The Science and Technology Development Fund; Member of the Architecture, Engineering and Urban Planning Committee and Coordinator of its Registration Commission; Member of the Urban Renewal Committee; Member of the Talents Development Committee; and Member of the Higher Education Committee of the Macau SAR Government. He was also the President of The Association for Promotion of Science and Technology of Macau, and President of the General Assembly of The Institute of European Studies of Macau. Professor Iu was awarded the Medal of Distinguish Service by the Macau SAR government in 2008 in recognition of his significant contributions to the higher education sector in Macau.
Dr Cartier Lam (Geography)
Dr Cartier Lam is the Executive Director and Chief Executive of The Bank of East Asia (China) Limited (BEA China). A graduate of the Department of Geography at Hong Kong Baptist University, he was also educated in the UK and Australia, and obtained a Doctorate Degree in Business Administration from the University of South Australia.
Leveraging his 30 years of extensive experience in the banking industry and deep insight into the financial markets on the Chinese mainland and in Greater China, Dr Lam has held various managerial positions at BEA China, including General Manager of the BEA Xiamen Branch, Deputy General Manager of the BEA Taipei Branch and General Manager of the BEA Dalian Branch. He was the Vice-President of ING Bank's Shanghai branch, where he supervised commodity and trade finance. He also served as an Executive Vice President and Deputy Chief Executive of BEA China, and was responsible for strategic planning, financial control, human resources, and corporate and retail banking, as well as marketing and corporate communications.
A passionate advocate for the improvement of youth education in rural areas, Dr Lam assisted BEA China to establish the Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation-BEA Charity Fund, where he holds the position of Overseas Director. The fund provides education and disaster relief programmes nationwide and has garnered widespread support.
Dr Lam is highly conscious of the importance of serving wider society and holds several public positions, including Vice President of the China Banking Association and Director of its Foreign Bank Working Committee. He is also the Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Financial Association, a member of the 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) of Shanghai, an overseas economic advisor to the Dalian Municipal Government, an invited member of CPPCC Dalian, Standing Director of the Shanghai Finance Institute and an Honorable Sponsor of the Hong Kong Baptist University Alumni Association of Shanghai.
Dr Lam's remarkable contributions to finance have earned him several awards, including the Shanghai Leader in Finance 2016 award from the Shanghai Municipal Government. He was also named Financier of the Year in the 2017 China Financial Innovation List from Yicai, and Industry Leader at the 2018 Shanghai Financiers.
Photos of the four Distinguished Alumni Award recipients can be downloaded from below.
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Media enquiries:
Wong Suk-ling from the Communication and Public Relations Office (3411 2119, hkbunews@hkbu.edu.hk).
