“Tony Abbott has the numbers and will challenge Malcolm Turnbull for the Liberal Leadership”
Publication
Fairfax Radio
Year
2010
Category
Young Journalist of the Year Awards
Overall Young Australian Journalist of the Year
Radio/audio journalism
In 2010, Fairfax Radio’s Latika Bourke (@latikambourke) was named the Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year for her outstanding coverage of the Liberal leadership crisis that saw Tony Abbott topple Malcolm Turnbull, which also earned her the Radio/Audio Journalism prize.
Bourke also broke the news that Joe Hockey had been sounded out for the leadership and got confirmation from power-broker Nick Minchin that any compromise on emissions trading negotiated by Turnbull might be rejected. The Walkley Advisory Board agreed that Bourke’s pioneering use of Twitter as the drama reached its climax in the party room added an important dimension to her reporting.
Latika started out in radio in Bathurst, hosting her own radio talkback program on the local station, while completing her studies at Charles Sturt University. After winning two Commercial Radio Awards in 2005, she was soon after offered a job at the 2UE Newsroom in Sydney. She covered general news and did countless mid-dawn shifts, before being promoted to 2UE and Fairfax Radio’s Canberra bureau. She is currently ABC’s Political and Social Media Reporter at Parliament House.
Judges’ comments:
“Latika’s coverage of the Liberal leadership crisis that saw Tony Abbott topple Malcolm Turnbull was outstanding. Her radio reporting showed flair and determination as she broke the news that Joe Hockey had been sounded out for the leadership and also got confirmation from power-broker Nick Minchin that any compromise on emissions trading negotiated by Turnbull might be rejected. As the drama reached its climax in the party room, Latika’s pioneering use of Twitter added an important extra dimension to her reporting.”