First-time winner, Prudential plc., and repeat winner CLP Holdings Ltd. took the top awards in their categories in this year's Best Corporate Governance Disclosure Awards organised by the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

These were the only two diamond award winners in this year's competition, as the judges decided against giving out the highest honours in the other three categories, including H-shares and the public sector, saying Hong Kong listed companies and not-for-profit organisations can improve their corporate governance and disclosures.

The best annual reports revealed companies that were open and accountant to shareholders and show that these companies understand the need to communicate with a broad constituency including employees, business partners and the community in which they operate, and the need to show they are responsible corporate citizens.

New to this year's awards are citations for sustainability and social responsibility.

"We introduced the new sustainability and social responsibility reporting award this year to acknowledge the increasing expectations from investors and the public for companies to adopt environmentally friendly and sustainable practices and to conduct their businesses in a socially responsible manner," says Stephen Law, chairman of the awards organising committee.

The joint winners of the first sustainability and social responsibility award were CLP Holdings Ltd. and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. Their approaches were diferent but the judges considered both companies established good models for sustainability and social responsibility reporting for other companies to follow.

Some companies have ratcheted up their corporate governance, as indicated by several new winners.

First-time winners included Prudential plc., in the non-Hang Seng Index, large market capitalisation category, and SOCAM Development Ltd. (formerly, Shui On Construction and Materials Ltd.) in the mid-to-small market capitalisation category.

In the HSI category, the China Coal Energy Company Ltd. earned the judges' recognition with the significant improvement award. The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Ltd. gained a special mention also in the non-HSI, large market capitalisation category.

The competition was close among H-share companies, where the judges declined to give out the diamond, or top award. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., however, took the second highest award, the platinum.

Other H-share winners were Jiangsu Expressway Company Ltd. and China Shenhua Energy Company Ltd., taking a gold award and a special mention respectively.