Administered by The Walkley Foundation on behalf of Our Watch.
The Our Watch Award for Excellence in Reporting on Violence Against Women recognises the work of an individual, team or news organisation in highlighting the drivers of gendered violence and the way these intersect with other forms of discrimination and abuse faced by women and children.
Eligible formats include rolling coverage or a series of news reports or features, or one longform piece. Entries can be examples of journalism of any medium (text, audio or visual) and published on any platform (print, broadcast, podcast and digital).
Entries must demonstrate how the reporting was realised and how intersecting forms of discrimination were considered and represented in it and provide evidence of its impact.
Judging will take into account deadlines, resourcing and other pressures faced by the entrant/s, as well as ongoing reactions to the work, or social or legislative outcomes arising from it.
Judges will evaluate submissions according to the following criteria:
- Representation of the drivers of gendered violence
- Representation of intersecting forms of discrimination
- Research, writing and production values, including ensuring expert opinions on gendered violence are heard
- Strict adherence to ethical standards and guidelines on the treatment of victim survivors sharing their stories
- Inclusion of information for readers experiencing violence or abuse – such as 1800RESPECT
- Innovation, enterprise or courage
- Impact and public benefit
- Time constraints and resources available
Judges will also take into consideration isolation or exposure to outside forces, as well as the real or potential dangers in presenting a story.
Entry into the Our Watch Award is based on independent acts of journalism, free from any commercial or corporate interests.
Entries may be either a single piece of work or may consist of up to three pieces that represent a body of work. All entries must have been published or broadcast and available in Australia between April 27, 2023 and April 15, 2024.
Each entry to the Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism is judged on how well it responds to:
- the category description; and
- judging criteria.
Please note the Our Watch Award is subject to its own judging criteria (detailed above).
For more information on how judging works, including the overall judging criteria that the other Mid-Year awards are subjected to, please refer to the FAQs
Your entry must comply with the following Terms & Conditions.
For entry support or questions, please contact Margie Smithurst, Senior Manager, Walkley Awards and Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism: margie.smithurst@walkleys.com.
Entry fee
Entry is free for members of MEAA. The cost of entering the award for non-members is $50 including GST. For inquiries about MEAA membership, please contact members@meaa.org or call 1300 656 513.
History of this award
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 a key driver of this violence.
Australia’s first awards recognising reporting on gendered violence were established by Domestic Violence Victoria. It is only thanks to the devoted and prolonged efforts of DV Vic and others in the sector that a place for this award exists today.
Current winner
2024 Our Watch Award winners: Jessica Lodge, Melissa Downes and Adam Buncher, Nine Entertainment Co., ‘Hannah’s Story‘
2023 Winner
The winner of the 2023 Our Watch Award for Excellence in Reporting on Violence Against Women was Richard Willingham for “Victims of violent crime forced to wait for forensic examinations in Victoria due to ‘dire’ shortage of doctors“, “Shortage of doctors causing victims of violent sexual crime to wait for forensic examinations“, “Victims of violent crime forced to wait for forensic examinations in Victoria”
2022 Winner
The winners of the 2022 Our Watch Award were Bethany Atkinson-Quinton and Madison Griffiths for Broadwave, “Tender: Roia Atmar” published on Broadwave Pods
2021 Winner
The winner of the 2021 Our Watch Award was Samantha Maiden 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” published in News.com.au
2020 Winner
The winner of the 2020 Our Watch Award was Nina Funnell for the “Let Her Speak” series of articles, published in News.com.au, The Mercury and NT News.
2019 Winner
The winners of the 2019 Our Watch Award were Sarah Dingle and the Background Briefing Team, Radio National, ABC for “Australia On Trial: Carers who kill, Slavery in the suburbs, Murder on Trial”
Contact Our Watch
Krista Eleftheriou
Media and Public Affairs Manager
media@ourwatch.org.au / 0448 844 930