Along graduation, Hong’ao was honored to have received the Wenzhi New Scholar Award (文治新人) for 2025 (see news). He was the only undergraduate student awarded for 2025, and the first to be nominated in the history of School of Foreign Languages at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU).

The Wenzhi New Scholar Award is a prestigious academic honor. It is presented annually to no more than 10 recipients, including both graduate and undergraduate nominees. This highly selective award is designed to guide and motivate students in the fields of humanities and social sciences, as well as interdisciplinary areas combining humanities with science, engineering, agriculture, and medicine, to cultivate academic aspirations, enhance research capabilities, and adhere to academic ethics. It aims to recognize students who have demonstrated outstanding academic quality and achieved significant innovative academic results during their studies at SJTU.