Press Release

Nearly a Hundred Tertiary Students Receive HKHS Award
Lee Wai-sze and Yu Chui-yee Inspire the Young People with Can-do Spirit

The 17^th Hong Kong Housing Society Award (HKHS Award) presentation ceremony was held today (22 January) online.  There was a total of 96 student awardees this year, coming from 11 local tertiary institutions and their continuing education schools and community colleges, as well as three member institutions of the Vocational Training Council, namely the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education and the Hong Kong Design Institute.  All of the awardees joined the ceremony online due to the pandemic.

The award presentation ceremony was graced by Olympic Medallist Hong Kong Cyclist Lee Wai-sze and Paralympic Medallist Wheelchair Fencer Yu Chui-yee who shared their encouraging stories and can-do spirit with the student awardees.  Live-streaming of the hybrid event on the "Housing Society Community" Facebook Fanpage enabled the students to share the joyous moments together with their families and friends.

Incepted in 2006, the HKHS Award aims to support talent development for the housing and elderly-care industries of Hong Kong, by recognising students with outstanding academic performance in related disciplines, while providing financial assistance to those in need.  This year, the amount of scholarship/bursary awarded to each student has been raised to HK$10,000 to show greater support.  Since the launch of the Award, more than 1,300 students have been awarded and the total sponsorship has amounted to over HK$8.7 million.

At the award presentation ceremony, HKHS Chairman Walter Chan said, "The Housing Society is committed to nurturing young talents for the industry.  Through various scholarship/bursary schemes and the HS Academy Alumni Club (Alumni Club), we provide the young people with opportunities to excel in order to promote sustainable development of the housing and related services, while at the same time gathering them to serve the underprivileged of our community."

By sharing her personal stories, Lee Wai-sze encouraged the students to remain perseverant and courageous in pursuing their dreams.  Wheelchair Fencer Yu Chui-yee attributed her success to a positive and optimistic mind that has helped her to overcome physical disability, and she advised the awardees to help and support each other when moving forward and be confident to achieve the impossible.

In a bid to further connect the award recipients, the Alumni Club was established in 2019 to provide a platform for facilitating the professional development of the awardees while engaging them to support the community.  The Alumni Club has organised a broad range of activities to facilitate professional development, career planning, physical and mental health, and community services that could broaden the young talents’ horizon and nurture them to be future leaders.  The Alumni Club members have provided nearly 3,000 hours of community services, helping over 35,000 beneficiaries.  They are also given the priority for interview of HKHS’s summer internship programme and job recruitment.

Apart from the HKHS Award, the Housing Society also granted scholarships to outstanding students of the Master of Housing Management Programme of The University of Hong Kong with the annual "Father Cronin Memorial Award", which has been running since 1994.  This year, two awardees have received a sponsorship of HK$10,000 each in recognition of their excellent academic performance.