Three finalists have been announced for the 2023 Our Watch Award administered by the Walkley Foundation.
Our Watch CEO Patty Kinnersly said the quality of the finalists this year reflected impressive work from journalists.
“The media has a powerful role in exposing violence against women, shaping the national conversation and influencing the community attitudes that perpetuate this violence in the first place,” Ms. Kinnersly said.
“How violence against women is reported influences how we all make sense of the issue, and there is a clear link between how the media frames news and the community’s attitudes and beliefs in relation to violence against women”.
“That’s why it’s so important to recognise and reward excellence in reporting on violence against women. In particular, reports that focus on the whole issue, that talk about the drivers of violence against women, and the steps we need to take to prevent it”.
2023 Our Watch Award finalists
Administered by The Walkley Foundation
- Alexis Daish, A Current Affair, Nine, “Kim’s Fight”
- Melissa Fyfe and Jacqueline Maley, Good Weekend Magazine, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, “Rethinking Rape”
- Richard Willingham, ABC Investigations, “Shortage of doctors causing victims of sexual crime to wait for forensic examinations” (1, 2, 3)
The finalists were announced alongside all the award finalists in the Walkley Foundation’s 2023 Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism.
Walkley Foundation CEO Shona Martyn said: “Over the last ten years the media has proved it has an important role to play in helping to change the attitudes, behaviours and structural inequities that contribute to violence against women and their children. The Walkley Foundation is proud to partner with Our Watch in recognising Australian journalism that is shining a light on stories that must be told.”
Peer-judged and selected on the basis of journalistic excellence, the Mid-Year Celebration suite administered by the Walkley Foundation includes the John B Fairfax Family Young Australian Journalist of the Year Awards, June Andrews Award for Industrial Relations Reporting, June Andrews Award for Freelance Journalist of the Year, June Andrews Award for Women’s Leadership in Media, Our Watch Award, Media Diversity Australia Award, Humanitarian Storytelling Award, June Andrews Award for Arts Journalism and The Pascall Prize for Arts Criticism.
Winners will be announced at the Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism event in Sydney on June 15.
–ENDS–
MEDIA CONTACT
Jilly Charlwood, Director, Marketing and Communications
P: 0448 844 930
E: media@ourwatch.org.au
ABOUT OUR WATCH
Our Watch is a national leader in Australia’s work to stop violence against women and their children before it starts. The organisation was created to drive nation-wide change in the structures, norms and practices that lead to violence against women and children.
BACKGROUND
Our Watch has been recognising and rewarding excellence in reporting on violence against women and children since 2013, initially through the Our Watch Awards – administered by the Walkley Foundation – and from 2019 onwards through the Our Watch Award at the Walkley Mid-Year Celebration. The objective of Our Watch’s ongoing work with the Walkley Foundation is to improve the quality of reporting on violence against women and their children by building awareness of gender inequality as setting the underlying context for this violence. To access guides for reporting about violence against women and their children, visit: media.ourwatch.org.au
