Encouraging excellence

The Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism exist to recognise and reward excellence, independence, innovation and originality in storytelling and distinctive reporting. The awards cover all media and have expanded to encompass the changing nature of the media industry and innovation in journalism. Entries include research and investigations, well-crafted and innovative presentations, news-breaking single stories, and engaging, entertaining and/or informative reporting. More than 1,300 entries are received each year across 30 categories.

All the winners of the 68h Walkley Awards. Read the full list of winners here.

The Walkley Book Award celebrates the value and importance of long-form journalism, acknowledging the proud line-up of Australian writers who have taken subjects of enduring topicality and consequence from news bulletins, eye-witness reporting, investigations and historical records and provided readers with expanded factual detail, revelation and greater clarity of analysis in book form.

Delikado, by Karl Malakunas (Thoughtful Robot Productions) won the 2022 Walkley Documentary Award. 

See the announcement of the 2022 Walkley Documentary Award longlist here

The Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year Awards recognise and reward the hard work of our most outstanding young Australian journalists. In 2021, these the awards will recognise those aged 28 and under who demonstrate excellence in the fundamental tenets of the craft as well as the ability to present distinctive and original journalism that pushes the boundaries of the profession.

Mridula Amin from the ABC was named the 2021 Young Australian Journalist of the Year for her powerful multimedia work “The hidden park of last resort”. Mridula was also the winner of the Visual Storytelling and Longform feature or special categories.

Andrew Quilty (The Intercept, The Monthly and Afghanistan After America, Podcast) received the June Andrews Award for Freelance Journalist of the Year for the stories “The CIA’s Afghan Death Squads”, “The Worst Form of Defence” and “Afghanistan After America: A Podcast”.

Women’s Leadership in Media honours women who are making a outstanding journalistic contribution to gender equality and the visibility of women in society – both in Australia and on a global scale. It celebrates reporting that demonstrates notable innovation, enterprise or courage in raising awareness of women’s experiences and perspectives, and reflects the significance of media coverage in altering perceptions, challenging stereotypes and fighting misinformation.

Nina Funnell, Kerry Warren, Gina McWilliams, Hannah Stenning and Georgia-Kate Schubert (news.com.au, The Herald Sun, The Mercury, The Courier-Mail and NT News) received the 2021 June Andrews Award for Women’s Leadership in Media for the “Let Her Speak” series.

Anwen Crawford (The Monthly) was awarded the 2021 Pascall Prize for Arts Criticism and Kelly Burke (Guardian Australia) received the 2021 June Andrews Award for Arts Journalism.

The June Andrews Award for Best Industrial Reporting is an all-media award recognising outstanding journalism which captures the importance of a robust industrial relations ecosystem for Australian workers and businesses, as well as its complexities.

The award seeks to elevate the importance of industrial relations coverage and to encourage it further. It was established in 2017 in honour of Helen O’Flynn (1920-1984), one of Australia’s most respected industrial journalists, and Alan Knight, an Emeritus professor and newspaper, radio and TV journalist for over 40 years.

Ben Schneiders, Royce Millar and Liam Mannix (The Age) received the 2021 June Andrews Award for Industrial Relations Reporting for “A city divided: COVID-19 finds a weakness in Melbourne’s social fault lines,” “All in this together? How rich and poor are travelling in lockdown” and “Starved out of Australia: The workers without money or food”.

Samantha Maiden (news.com.au) was awarded the 2021 Our Watch Award for “Young staffer Brittany Higgins says she was raped at Parliament House” “Parliament office ‘steam cleaned’ after alleged attack” and “Minister Michaelia Cash’s voicemail message to Brittany Higgins”.