The Sun political editor Zainon Ahmad and Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan were named media personalities of 2010 by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents (4As) at a gala dinner this evening.

The award is part of the annual Kancil Awards, the country’s largest and most prestigious advertising honours.

zainon ahmad at kancil awards 2010Zainon (left) and Gan received the award from 4As president Vincent Lee at the Sime Darby Convention Centre, where about 90 medals were given to acknowledge the best creative work of Malaysia’s top advertising agencies in various categories - film, radio, print and digital.

Lee said that the award was in recognition of the outstanding achievement of both Zainon and Gan as journalists who “seek the truth without fear or favour”.

steven gan at kancil awards 2010In receiving the award, Gan (right) described the honour as “special and rare” as it came from the advertising industry.

“An award such as this is never the result of the work of just one individual. For this, I pay tribute to the men and women in Malaysiakini - both past and present - who helped put the news portal on the map.”

Malaysiakini celebrates 11th anniversary

According to Gan, the award came at an opportune time as Malaysiakini celebrated its 11th anniversary six days ago. This is the second year that the media personality award was given.
 
Last year, The Sun editor and columnist R Nadeswaran, better known as Citizen Nades, won the inaugural media personality award.

It is also the second time this year that Malaysiakini walked away with an award.

In March, Malaysiakini was named one of the country's favourite brands at the inaugural Putra Brand Awards.

Malaysiakini was picked as Malaysia's top six media brands, alongside TV stations Astro, TV3, 8TV, newspaper Star and global search engine Google.

Results of Kancil Awards 2010