Finalists in the 63nd annual Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism were announced tonight at simultaneous events in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Journalists around Australia submitted over 1,300 entries, which were judged by more than 100 senior industry representatives.
The finalists for the 2018 Nikon-Walkley Awards for Excellence in Photojournalism and the Walkley Documentary Award were announced last week. Finalists for the Business Journalism category will be announced on Monday October 22.
Award winners will be announced at a gala dinner on Thursday November 22, at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in partnership with Tourism & Events Queensland.
Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones congratulated this year’s finalists and said the Walkley Awards celebrated the very best in Australian journalism.
“We look forward to welcoming around 600 leading journalists and media outlets from across the country to Queensland on November 22,” she said. “The Walkley Awards has been the premier celebration of journalism in Australia for the past 63 years and it’s great to be able to host this event once again in Brisbane, generating great exposure for our state.
The awards will be broadcast live on Sky News Extra Foxtel channel 604 and streamed live on the Walkley website (walkleys.com) from 8:30pm AEDT.
A full list of this year’s finalists and judges follows.
For media enquiries contact Walkleys communications manager Clare Fletcher, clare.fletcher@walkleys.com or 02 9333 0925.
2018 Walkley Award finalists
PRINT/TEXT NEWS REPORT
Award Partner Media Super
- Sharri Markson, Christopher Dore and Kylar Loussikian, The Daily Telegraph, “Bundle of Joyce”
- Kate McClymont, Lorna Knowles, Tracey Spicer and Alison Branley, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Don Burke Investigation”
- Nick McKenzie, Fairfax Media, “The fall of Shanghai Sam”
PUBLIC SERVICE JOURNALISM
Award Partner Naked Communications
- Laura Banks, The Daily Telegraph and Seven News Sydney, “Little Boy Dead”
- Belinda Hawkins and Sarah Farnsworth, Australian Story, ABC TV, “The Justice Principle”
- Louise Milligan, Sashka Koloff, Mary Fallon and Lucy Carter, Four Corners, ABC TV, “I Am That Girl”
INNOVATION
Award Partner News Corp Australia
- Nathan Bazley, Luke Gibbs, Matt Holbrook and Daniel Mee, ABC, “Kokoda VR”
- Kylie Boltin, Matty Huynh, Michael Green and Ella Rubeli, SBS Online Documentaries, “She Called Me Red”
- Guardian Australia Team, Guardian Australia, “Deaths Inside: Indigenous deaths in custody”
HEADLINE, CAPTION OR HOOK
Award Partner Qantas
- Anthony De Ceglie and Brad Clifton, The Daily Telegraph, “BUNDLE OF JOYCE” “DELAY OLE! DELAY OLE!” and “PEKING SCHMUCK”
- Baz McAlister, The Courier Mail and The Sunday Mail, “DEBBIE DOES DALLIANCES” “THROW IN THE TOWELS…” and “BOLD McDONALD HAS NO CHARM”
- Lane Sainty, BuzzFeed, “The same-sex marriage saga, explained via Twitter flowchart”
FEATURE WRITING LONG (OVER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner UQ
- James Bradley, The Monthly, “Ocean’s End”
- James Button, The Monthly, “Angels or Arrogant Gods: Dutton, Immigration and the Triumph of Border Protection”
- Melissa Davey and Carly Earl, Guardian Australia, “I still feel mutilated’: victims of disgraced gynaecologist Emil Gayed speak out”
FEATURE WRITING SHORT (UNDER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner Fairfax
- Rosemary Neill, The Weekend Australian, “Family affair: How Dorothy Hewett facilitated her daughters’ abuse”
- Leisa Scott, Qweekend, The Courier-Mail, “Holly’s Choice”
- Paige Taylor, The Weekend Australian, “My arrival at a wretched realisation”
COVERAGE OF INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS
Award Partner PwC
- Allan Clarke and Yale Macgillivray with Team Unravel True Crime, ABC Podcasts and ABC TV, “Unravel: Blood on the Tracks” and “Australian Story: Blood on the Tracks”
- Laura Murphy-Oates, The Feed, SBS Viceland, “Kids of Kalgoorlie”, “Reconciling Murder: The Myall Creek massacre” and “The Frontier wars: Australia’s Forgotten Conflicts”
- Guardian Team, Guardian Australia, “Deaths Inside: Indigenous deaths in custody”
COVERAGE OF COMMUNITY OR REGIONAL AFFAIRS
Award Partner BHP
- Belinda-Jane Davis, The Maitland Mercury, “The Big Dry”
- Shannon Tonkin, Illawarra Mercury, “State of Neglect”
- Giselle Wakatama, ABC, “Home of Horrors”
CARTOON AND ARTWORK
- Tia Kass, Kylie Boltin, Michael Green and Debra Shulkes, SBS Online network, “Faces of the Rohingya”
- Jamie Brown, The Sunday Age, “Generation Game”
- Jon Kudelka, The Australian, “From The Heart”
SPORTS JOURNALISM
- Chris Barrett, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Sandpaper, lies and videotape”
- Neil Breen, Nine News, Nine Network, “One Night in New York”
- Leo Schlink, Herald Sun, “The Big Fix”
SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY
Award Partner Nikon
- Scott Barbour, Getty Images, “Sport 2017—2018”
- Brett Costello, The Daily Telegraph, “No Limits”
- Craig Golding, AAP, “Body of Work ”
RADIO/AUDIO NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS
Award Partner ABC
- Jane Bardon, AM, ABC Radio National Breakfast, ABC News Online, “Indigenous families appeal to NT Government to keep young people out of detention”, “NT child protection workers allege unmanageable workloads putting vulnerable at risk” and “Tennant Creek night patrols begin to have effect”
- Ange McCormack, Karla Arnall and Philippa McDonald, Triple J Hack, ABC, “‘Disturbing’ NSW Health privacy breach revealed”
- Sally Sara, ABC Radio, “Going Back”
RADIO/AUDIO FEATURE
Award Partner Griffith University
- Hagar Cohen and Team Background Briefing, Background Briefing, ABC Radio National, “Fentanyl: A national emergency”
- Miles Martignoni, David Marr and Melissa Davey, Guardian Australia, “The Reckoning”
- Kylie Stevenson, Caroline Graham and Eric George, The Australian, “Lost in Larrimah”
PRODUCTION
Award Partner Google News Initiative
- ABC News Story Lab, ABC News Digital, “Into The Cave”
- Four Corners Production Team, Four Corners, ABC TV, “I Am That Girl”
- Peak Hour Project Team, The Age, “How to beat Melbourne’s worsening peak-hour traffic”
SCOOP OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nine
- Sharri Markson, Christopher Dore and Kylar Loussikian, The Daily Telegraph, “Bundle of Joyce”
- Lisa Martin, Guardian Australia and AAP, “The Au Pair Affair”
- Nick McKenzie, Fairfax Media, “Shanghai Sam, the tip-off and the tape”
COVERAGE OF A MAJOR NEWS EVENT OR ISSUE
Award Partner Lion
- Drew Ambrose, Karishma Vyas and Liz Gooch, 101 East, Al Jazeera, “Rohingya Refugee Crisis”
- Guardian & 2SER Team, Guardian Australia, “The death of David Dungay”
- Paige Taylor, Natasha Robinson, Jacquelin Magnay and Chris Merritt, ABC, The Australian and The Weekend Australian, “Captain Dragan”
NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY
Award Partner Nikon
- Lukas Coch, AAP, “Linda Burney Airborne”
- Jenny Evans, Getty Images and The Daily Telegraph, “Life Saver”
- Andrew Quilty, The New York Times, “‘It’s a Massacre’: Blast in Kabul Deepens Toll of a Long War”
BUSINESS JOURNALISM
Award Partner ING
- Leo Shanahan, Sky News, “CBA international transaction monitoring investigation”
- Jonathan Shapiro, The Australian Financial Review, “Breaking Big Un”
- Edmund Tadros, TheAustralian Financial Review, “Big 4 and #MeToo”
FEATURE/PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY
Award Partner Nikon
- Jenny Evans, Getty Images, “Louth Races”
- David Gray, Reuters Wider Image, “Drought From Above”
- Chris Hopkins, SBS Online Documentaries, “My Name is Yunus”
TELEVISION/VIDEO: CAMERAWORK
Award Partner Australian Super
- Matthew Davis, Foreign Correspondent, ABC, “On Top Of The World”
- Aaron Hollett, Four Corners, ABC, “City of Ghosts”
- Ginny Stein, Lateline, ABC “The Duterte Solution”
TELEVISION/VIDEO: NEWS REPORTING
Award Partner Seven
- Alexandra Blucher and Mark Willacy, ABC 7pm News, ABC TV, “Corruption concerns at one of Australia’s biggest councils”
- Chris O’Keefe, Nine News, Nine Network, “Emma Husar Quits”
- Chris Reason, Seven 6pm News, Seven Network & Social Media & News Specials, “Thai Caves Rescue”
TELEVISION/VIDEO CURRENT AFFAIRS SHORT (LESS THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner SBS
- Dimity Clancey and Natalie Clancy, A Current Affair, Nine Network, “Disgraced Doctor”
- Hagar Cohen and Nikki Tugwell, 7.30, ABC TV, “Fentanyl abuse series”
- Lorna Knowles, Kate McClymont, Jo Puccini, Alison Branley and ABC and Fairfax Team, 7.30, ABC TV, “Women claim Don Burke sexually harassed them” and “More people come forward with accounts of dealing with Don Burke”
TELEVISION/VIDEO CURRENT AFFAIRS LONG (MORE THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner Ten
- Four Corners Team, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Out of the Dark”
- Stephen Long, Wayne Harley and Mary Fallon, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Digging into Adani”
- Louise Milligan, Sashka Koloff, Mary Fallon and Lucy Carter, Four Corners, ABC TV, “I Am That Girl”
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Award Partner Bayer
- Lisa Martin, Guardian Australia and AAP, “The Au Pair Affair”
- Royce Millar, Ben Schneiders and Chris Vedelago, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Fairfax Media, “Catholic Inc: What the Church is really worth”
- Hedley Thomas and Slade Gibson, The Australian, “The Teacher’s Pet”
COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS, OPINION AND CRITIQUE
- Julia Baird, ABC, The Sydney Morning Herald and The New York Times, “When women speak: The importance of female voices in the era of #MeToo”
- Mark Riley, The West Australian, “Atrocities committed in God’s name mean church will never sway me,” “Live exports to Middle East based on a lie,” “”Disappointing” Malcolm Turnbull comes under fire from his own faction”
- Ranjana Srivastava, Guardian Australia, “From a frontline clinician: here’s what’s wrong with private health insurance”, “Accents don’t hurt patients, attitudes do” and “My life became entwined with a stranger in a tense mid-air drama”
WALKLEY DOCUMENTARY AWARD SHORTLIST
- Myanmar’s Killing Fields, Evan Williams, Eve Lucas and Georgina Davies, Dateline, SBS
- The Song Keepers, Rachel Clements, Naina Sen and Trisha Morton-Thomas, Brindle Films, Indigo Productions and NITV
- Trump/Russia, Four Corners Trump/Russia team, Four Corners, ABC TV
WALKLEY BOOK AWARD LONGLIST
- Rachael Brown, Trace: Who Killed Maria James?, Scribe Publications
- Tjanara Goreng Goreng with Julie Szego, A Long Way From No Go, Wild Dingo Press
- Peter Greste, The First Casualty, Viking
- Sarah Krasnostein, The Trauma Cleaner, Text Publishing
- John Martinkus, Lost Copy: The Endless Wars, Australian Scholarly Publishing
- Chris Masters, No Front Line: Australia’s Special Forces At War in Afghanistan, Allen & Unwin
- Rick Morton, One Hundred Years of Dirt, Melbourne University Publishing
- Helen Pitt, The House, Allen & Unwin
- Kate Wild, Waiting For Elijah, Scribe Publications
NIKON-WALKLEY PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nikon
- Matthew Abbott, The New York Times, Oculi, ABC and The Australian
- Dean Lewins, NBCnews.com, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian, The Australian and Time
- Andrew Quilty, The New York Times, Human Rights Watch, National Geographic Magazine, Politic and The Guardian
For media enquiries contact Walkleys communications manager Clare Fletcher, clare.fletcher@walkleys.com or 02 9333 0925.
Thank you to the many senior journalists who gave their time to judge the Walkley Awards this year:
- Gay Alcorn, Melbourne editor, Guardian Australia
- Paul Bailey, editor, The Australian Financial Review
- Rebecca Barry, filmmaker
- Michael Beach, editor, The Sunday Times
- Natarsha Belling, news presenter, Ten Eyewitness News
- Neil Bennett, national photographic manager, News Corp Australia
- Sean Berry, reporter, Seven
- Natasha Bita, national affairs writer, The Courier Mail
- Tara Brown, reporter, 60 Minutes, Nine
- Andrew Burrell, Western Australia bureau chief, The Australian
- Mark Burrows, reporter, Nine
- Greg Byrnes, channel manager & national editor, Sky News
- Mike Carey, chief-of-staff, News, TIV/SBS
- Mark Chester, reporter, WIN
- Michael Christensen, editor, GQ Magazine
- Andrew Clark, executive producer, SBS
- Jenna Clarke, head of BuzzFeed originals, BuzzFeed Australia
- Paul Colgan, editor-in-chief, Business Insider
- David Cooper, news director, Seven
- Ross Coulthart, senior journalist
- Ross Dagan, network director of news content, Ten
- Helen Dalley, senior journalist
- Mark Davies, news editor, ABC
- Quentin Dempster, senior journalist, The New Daily
- Madelaine Dickie, editor, National Indigenous Times
- Amy Donaldson, senior producer, ABC
- Christopher Dore, editor, The Daily Telegraph
- Stephen Drill, senior journalist, Herald Sun
- Carly Earl, picture editor, Guardian Australia
- Ross Eason, photographer
- Jacqueline Felgate, presenter, Seven
- Jackie Frank, former editor, Marie Claire
- Mark Fuller, weekend editor, The Age
- Bill Goodier, state producer, WIN
- Jackson Gothe-Snape, data journalist, ABC
- Jonathan Green, editor, Meanjin
- Bruce Guthrie, editorial director, The New Daily
- Jessica Halloran, senior sports reporter, News Corp Australia
- Nicola Harvey, executive producer, BuzzFeed Australia
- Kelvin Healey, editor, The Sunday Mail
- Jane Henschke, senior producer, Ten
- Amy Hetherington, editor, The Big Issue
- David Higgins, editor-in-chief, Stockhead
- Rachel Hocking, host, The Point, NITV
- Stephen Hutcheon, supervising producer, ABC
- Anne Hyland, deputy editor, Good Weekend, Fairfax Media
- Steve Jackson, chief-of-staff, 60 Minutes, Nine
- Sandra Jackson, visual editor, The West Australian
- John Janke, co-host, The Point, NITV
- Misha Ketchell, managing editor, The Conversation
- Nassim Khadem, business editor, Fairfax Media
- Sturt Krysgman, illustrator, News Corp Australia
- Allison Langdon, reporter, 60 Minutes, Nine
- Antoinette Lattouf, co-founder, Media Diversity Australia / lecturer, Macleay College.
- Paige Livingston, filmmaker, Optimistic Pictures
- Tory Maguire, national editor, Fairfax Media
- Chris Masters, senior journalist
- Jini Maxwell, editor, The Lifted Brow
- Alyssa McDonald, head of digital – Asia, Bloomberg Australia
- Leila McKinnon, host, Nine
- Sam Mooy, picture editor, AAP
- Ben Naparstek, original content director, Audible
- Jane Norman, federal political reporter, ABC
- Renee Nowytarger, photographer
- Ivan O’Mahoney, executive producer, In-Films
- Patrick O’Neil, deputy news editor, The Age
- Gareth Parker, Morning Show presenter, Macquarie Media
- Sally Patten, editor, Australian Financial Review
- Bhakthi Puvanenthiran, associate editor, Crikey
- Chris Reason, senior journalist, Seven
- Petra Rees, deputy editor, The Australian
- Amy Remeikis, political reporter, Guardian Australia
- Juliet Rieden, royal correspondent & books editor, Australian Women’s Weekly
- Hugh Riminton, senior reporter, Ten
- Sally Roberts, executive editor, SBS
- Susan Skelly, publisher
- Ben Smee,Queensland correspondent, Guardian Australia
- Deborah Snow, senior writer, Fairfax Media
- David Speers, political editor, Sky News
- John Stanley, co-host, 2UE, Macquarie Radio
- Rob Stott, managing editor, Junkee
- Jon Tjhia, senior digital editor, The Wheeler Centre
- Gail Watson, news director, 3AW
- Kate Wild, senior journalist, ABC-NT
- Mark Willacy, senior journalist, ABC
- Pam Williams, investigative journalist
