visuals — SOAP Award Recipients

Jan 4

Jan 4 🏆 Just Can't Get Enough

Edwin Lau

Winner 🏆 (Visual), Jan 2021

"All the things you do to me
And everything you said
I just can't get enough
I just can't get enough"

Dec 31

Dec 31 The Winter of 2020

Edwin Lau

Merit Award (Visual), Dec

A few months before the pandemic hit, we wrote about how winter is coming, and how recessions are inevitable. Little did we imagine that it would come so fast in the form of a global pandemic.

Dec 28

Dec 28 🏆 The Science Behind Covid-19

Edwin Lau

Winner 🏆 (Visual), Dec

Cartoonist Sonny Liew and NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health infectious diseases expert Hsu Li Yang have worked together to explain the science behind Covid-19, and how it impacts health, since the start of the pandemic.

Dec 1

Dec 1 A COVID-19 Story: Tim the Extra•Ordinary & Resilient mouse

Edwin Lau

Merit Award (Visual), Dec

To flatten the COVID-19 curve, Singapore embarks on home-based learning for all students for a month from 8 April 2020. Through the story of Tim the Extra•Ordinary & Resilient Mouse, we share with you how you too can find joy in this period.

Nov 30

Nov 30 🏆 Covid Alphabet

Edwin Lau

Winner 🏆 (Visual), Nov

Covid has redefined a generation, and what we once knew has now changed. 'Covid Alphabet' aims to reinvent word associations with letters that we once learned as children. Because to relearn is the only way to move forward.

Nov 26

Nov 26 Uncover stories about how the hotel industry is pivoting and creating new opportunities for their staff.

Edwin Lau

Merit Award (Visual), Nov

For the past 5 months, I’ve been working with the team BLKJ to uncover stories about how the hotel industry is pivoting and creating new opportunities for their staff. This includes, amongst other things, retraining and working in Covid related jobs. It was a great experience witnessing the industry’s adaptability and innovation. The project was commissioned by Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore Hotel Association.

Nov 16

Nov 16 A personal take on their word of the year

Edwin Lau

Merit Award (Visual), Nov

Words may fail many of us in trying to capture the misery of the past few months, but the folks at Collins Dictionary - lexicographers is the word for them - have hit on 'lockdown' as their word of the year. Hardly surprising, given that its usage has rocketed as shutters came down across the world amid the pandemic. Armed with the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words, The Straits Times photojournalists give a personal take on their word of the year.

Oct 31

Oct 31 🏆 Invisible Men: Migrant Workers in the Pandemic

Edwin Lau

Winner 🏆 (Visual), Oct

Oct 31

Oct 31 In Limbo in Little India

Edwin Lau

Merit Award (Visual), Oct

The shophouses of Little India are a vibrant mix of restaurants, department stores and groceries catering largely to Singapore’s South Asian community. In the living quarters upstairs, migrant workers with various work-related disputes wait for their cases to be settled — often for a long time.

Oct 3
Oct 3 Changes: An ongoing photo series

Edwin Lau

Merit Award (Visual), Oct

Changes: An ongoing photo series to document the changes we have seen and experienced firsthand during the pandemic in the past few months . Be it the changes in our lifestyle, the changes in our emotions, the changes in our Singapore.

Sep 21

Sep 21 🏆 A pandemic virtual reality

Edwin Lau

Sep, Winner 🏆 (Visual)

As Covid-19 sees many go online to learn and communicate, The Straits Times captures some of their experiences.

Sep 10

Sep 10 Far from home, but not forgotten

Edwin Lau

Sep, Merit Award (Visual)

Isolated and anxious, migrant workers in Singapore are grappling with the fallout of COVID-19. But in this time of shared crisis, their long-endured struggles are finally being seen and heard. Resilient despite their circumstances, they continue to receive overwhelming support from the community. And these connections are building friendships and deepening respect and understanding.