A Finsbury Park producer has won an International Emmy for his role in covering the Hong Kong protests.
Chris Cunningham and his colleagues Matt Frei, Stuart Webb, Chermaine Lee Sheung Man and Vanesse Chan Wing Yan were presented the International Emmy For News at a virtual ceremony on September 21.
Entitled Hong Kong - A Year of Living Dangerously, the coverage documented clashes between militant student demonstrators and the police at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University for Channel 4 News.
These formed part of ongoing demonstrations about the relationship between China and Hong Kong.
Chris, who has lived near Finsbury Park for about four years, told this newspaper it was an “unbelievable” story to have reported on: “We arrived after a 13-hour flight or something and as we landed, we realised that there was something going on at this university.
“We went there, and as we are standing outside we saw a few blockades, but we slowly realised as we were walking in that this was absolute madness.
“The whole place was being blocked – fortified, it was like medieval fortifications, with catapults being built to throw Molotov cocktails and students testing throwing them in their university swimming pool.
“As an event and a story, it was mind blowing. The moment itself and the story itself, it felt like we were in this historical moment – it sounds kitsch - but that’s what we were witnessing and there is no doubt about it.”
The producer, who has previously worked at ITV, is also a member of Islington Boxing Club (IBC).
READ MORE: Boxing: Chris Cunningham of Islington BC into semi-finals of London Intermediate ChampionshipsCompetitions secretary Reggie Hagland congratulated Chris and described him a “role model” for the club.
In a Facebook post, IBC said: “Congratulations to IBC boxer Chris Cunningham who won an Emmy Award as a producer for the Channel 4 News coverage on Hong Kong protests in November 2019. Well done.”
Channel 4 News has now won the award, the only category open to all international broadcasters, five times in eight years.
It was presented by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on September 21 during an online ceremony amid the coronavirus crisis.
The International Emmy Awards ceremony in 2019 took place in New York.
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