When this year's SOPA Awards for Editorial Excellence are presented in Hong Kong in June, two new categories will reflect the changing nature of publishing.

One - for excellence in arts and culture reporting - focuses on an increasingly popular area which includes fine arts and cultural topics including food and travel.

Also new is the SOPA Award for Public Service Journalism, which recognises outstanding work that represents an exemplary contribution to public service in the Asia Pacific region.

And for the purposes of the competition, that's a pretty broad area. SOPA is looking for English and Chinese-language journalism across an area which includes Afghanistan and the central Asian republics, as well as the Indian subcontinent, north, east and southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Islands, but not Iraq, Iran and the Gulf states.

Categories open to all publications, including websites and wire services, also include reporting on women's issues, journalistic innovation, video reporting, human rights reporting, feature writing, magazine design, explanatory reporting, business reporting, information graphics, reporting breaking news, opinion writing, reporting on the environment, photography, the 'Scoop Award', and investigative reporting,

The journalistic innovation honours work that uses new or emerging digital tools to deliver news content in an innovative manner and/or encourages audience engagement with the news.

More than half of each entry - except photography, information graphics, video reporting and journalistic innovation - must consist of written articles.

The closing date is January 31, with full details on the www.sopawards.com website (where entries must be lodged). Enquiries related to submissions can be sent to sopa@hku.hk

Tickets for the awards - to be presented at the Hong Kong Convention Exhibition Centre (pictured) on June 13 - will go on sale in April.