Student of the Year Awards: past winners gather to celebrate decades of excellence

Generations of alumni returned to the stage on Saturday to mark the 45th anniversary of the Student of the Year Awards, celebrating a decades-long history of recognising high-achieving Hong Kong pupils who have gone on to become distinguished professionals, from medical experts and acclaimed musicians to Olympic athletes.Among the returning alumni was Dr Chan Mui-tong, a general surgeon in Hong Kong, who received the grand prize in 1985 while studying at Ying Wa College. He noted that the awards did not originally have as many categories to recognise diverse talents.“Every time I see the other winners of the Student of the Year Awards, I am surprised to see they have improved every time. They perform much better than me, and better than the years before them,” the 59-year-old said.