There were 35 social workers being nominated in the 9th Outstanding Social Workers Award Contest held by the Hong Kong Workers Association Limited, Ming Pao, and Commercial Radio Channel I. Among those who were nominated, two were selected for the award. Their names are Miss Rainbow Cheung, Service Supervisor of the HKCS Preventive and Rehabilitation Services for Substance Abusers, and Mr Timothy Ma, Executive Director of Senior Citizen Home Safety Association. According to the adjudicators, both winners have worked in the social work profession for over 10 years. Furthermore, they are aware of the interactive relationship between service delivery and the development of society, thus introducinging various pilot projects to cater the needs of community.

Miss Rainbow Cheung tries best to promote the non-residential drug rehabilitation approach in her field of expertise. She also discovered new service focuses and models such as Project Aware, Project STEP, and Project CITY. Project Aware provides therapeutic group service for occasional substance abusers through an out-reaching approach. Project STEP (Specialized Training to Equip Professional) offers specialized training on drug rehabilitation counselling for professionals. Project CITY (City Intensive for Youth) provides personal enhancement training for youths dropped out of school and high risk unemployed young females.

Miss Rainbow Cheung is also the Platinum Award winner of the Outstanding Anti-Drug Workers Award Scheme. This award scheme, held by the Action Committee Against Narcotics and the Outstanding Young Persons' Association, serves the purpose to recognize workers who have had continuous and significant contribution to the anti-drug cause. The judging criteria for this award is based on the kind of contribution social workers made, such as anti-drug treatment and rehabilitation, counselling, prevention education and promotion, research, etc. The different types of awards available include Life Achievement Awards, Diamond Awards, Platinum Awards, Gold Awards, and Awards of Merit. These awards were given to 15 social workers according to their years of experience and contribution.