Chief Executive Carrie Lam has picked her election win as Hong Kong leader as the most important news story of 2017, as it was the first time a woman became the top official of the city.

She cast her vote on Friday at the launch ceremony of the Top Ten News contest, which was jointly hosted by five news organisations. The public can pick from 29 news items.

Carrie Lam
Photo: GovHK.

“It’s not because I am Carrie Lam herself – even if I am not Carrie Lam, if a woman was chosen to be the chief executive, it must be a big piece of news,” she said.

Lam won the small-circle election in March with 777 votes. The 1,194-member election committee chose her above rivals John Tsang and Woo Kwok-hing.

She also said that at least five other news items in the list were related to her win, including the new funds for education and the formation of the Task Force on Land Supply.

carrie lam
Carrie Lam. Photo: Carrie Lam, via Facebook.

Other stories up for the vote include the jailing of pro-democracy activists, the jailing of former leader Donald Tsang, the MTR arson case, instances of the national anthem being booed, the resignation of the University of Hong Kong chief, the joint border checkpoint controversy, MTR signal failures, the appearance of pro-independence banners on campuses and the T10-level typhoon.

The contest is hosted by Commercial Radio, Cable TV, i-Cable Communications, Sing Tao Daily, and The Standard. It will end on January 1 at midnight. The results will be released on January 8.

Kris Cheng is a Hong Kong journalist with an interest in local politics. His work has been featured in Washington Post, Public Radio International, Hong Kong Economic Times and others. He has a BSSc in Sociology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Kris is HKFP's Editorial Director.