Walkley Opportunity Scholarship with SBS and the Newcastle Herald

2024 winners

The Walkley Foundation is proud to announce the winners of the 2024 Walkley Opportunity Scholarship with SBS and the Newcastle Herald, Tallulah Brassil and Blair Wise.

The Scholarship was introduced, with support from Ampol, to address a lack of employment pathways and career opportunities for journalists from socio-economically disadvantaged communities in Australia.

The two winners will undertake 10-week placements in early 2025. Tallulah Brassil will be hosted by SBS in Sydney, and Blair Wise will be hosted by the Newcastle Herald. Each recipient receives a $10,000 stipend.

Tallulah Brassil is in her second year of journalism studies at the University of Wollongong. Originally from Wagga, Tallulah has always immersed herself in community storytelling, and is deeply passionate about public interest journalism and its role in giving humanitarian, environmental and cultural issues a voice.

Blair Wise is a proud Dunghutti journalist originally from Kempsey. He is studying Journalism at the University of Newcastle, where he has also served as an editor and columnist for the university’s student media. As a freelance journalist, he has reported for VICE on First Nations events, university issues, and youth drug use. He has also reported for AAP as a fact-checking journalist.

Scholarship Overview

The Walkley Opportunity Scholarship has been introduced to address a lack of employment pathways and career opportunities for journalists from socio-economically disadvantaged communities in Australia.

Funded by Ampol, the Walkley Opportunity Scholarship will provide two aspiring journalists of any age with an opportunity to work in a metropolitan newsroom for a 10-week placement. These placements are intended for individuals who identify as coming from a socio-economically disadvantaged background, with criteria for such outlined below.

One Scholarship winner will do their placement with the Newcastle Herald in Newcastle, and the other winner will do their placement with SBS in Sydney.

Each host newsroom will provide support and guidance, including mentoring from an experienced journalist, to help the winner to:

Build an understanding of newsroom and production processes
Publish content based on merit
Build industry connections

Each winner will receive a stipend of $10,000 to contribute towards living expenses and accommodation for the duration of the Scholarship.

Placement dates will be agreed in consultation with each winner and must commence no later than 1 March 2025.

The Scholarship winners will also be expected to be available to travel to Sydney for the following activities:

18 October: An awards presentation in Sydney. A return flight to Sydney will be covered by the Walkley Foundation, plus one night accommodation if required.
Newsroom Placement: A return flight to Sydney will be covered by the Walkley Foundation. The winner will be responsible for sourcing their own accommodation during the placement.

Who is eligible to apply?

Individuals who have a demonstrated passion and commitment to journalism as a career. This might include having worked in regional, local, or community media in Australia or their home country, early-career freelancing, and periods of relevant work experience. Refer to the Selection Criteria and Terms and Conditions for more information.
Entrants must be: Australian citizens, permanent residents of Australia or able to work in Australia on an appropriate work visa.
Applicants must be available to undertake the 10-week placement within 6 months of winning a Scholarship. The dates will be agreed in consultation with the host newsroom and must commence no later than 1 March 2025.
This opportunity is intended for individuals who identify as coming from a socio-economically disadvantaged background. We have included references to help you consider your eligibility and write your Application Statement below.

How to apply

Applications are made via our online application form. The form will ask you questions about why you are applying and what you hope to receive from this opportunity. You will be able to save your progress as you go along.

Once entries close, no extensions will be possible and the online application platform will not accept late applications.

Selection Criteria and Terms and Conditions

Please read the Selection Criteria and Terms and Conditions carefully before you begin your application.

What you will need to submit

A maximum 500-word Personal Goals Statement demonstrating what you believe you can bring to journalism, why you want to be a journalist, and why a career in the media is important to you. It should make reference to relevant journalism work or work experience.
A video pitch of no more than one minute outlining why being a journalist is important to you.
A maximum 300-word Application Statement describing the socio-economic challenges that have presented you with a barrier to entering journalism. Applicants are invited to describe their personal experience if applicable, and may also wish to consult the following resources when considering their eligibility and preparing their Application Statement:
- Socio-Economic Advantage and Disadvantage, Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016)
- Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas, Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016)
- Low SES Students, National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (2023)
A maximum 300-word pitch of three story ideas for a mainstream media house’s digital news platform. Your ideas are for the judges’ use in selecting the winners, and will be kept confidential.
Three examples of your best journalistic work.
- This could include work or work experience at a community newspaper or radio station, a news-focused podcast, independent reporting that you publish on social media, and similar journalistic activities.
- If you do not have any published or broadcast work please submit an additional 500-word story on ‘Why Journalism Matters’.
- Your examples can be submitted as PDFs, audio and video files, or as live online links.
- NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure that any live links are publicly accessible. Otherwise you must include a log-in and password in your Application Statement for the judges to access online content.
A current CV (maximum two pages).
A letter from a referee or member of your community who can act as a verifier, to describe your experience in journalism, and vouch for your eligibility for the Scholarship’s Terms and Conditions.

IMPORTANT

NOTE: Entrants must declare any and all use of artificial intelligence (AI) used in producing your journalism work samples, and / or in preparing the documents included in your entry submission i.e. your Personal Goals Statement, Application Statement, Story Pitch, and CV. This includes but is not limited to data scraping, using language-based systems such as ChatGPT for writing and scripting, transcription services such as Otter.AI, and AI image tools to create artwork, photography, data visualisation, and other graphics.

Where the Foundation determines, in its absolute discretion, that the use of AI has rendered an entry unsuitable for consideration for this program, the Foundation reserves the right to disqualify any application and/or revoke an awarded scholarship.

2023 winners

Nyibol Gatluak

Nyibol was a third-year Journalism student at Monash University and a content producer at African Australian (A2) news media page when she won the scholarship. She has interests in broadcast, digital and print journalism. Nyibol is keen to share media pertaining to minority groups and rewrite narratives. Journalism allows Nyibol to have a creative outlet — as she enjoys the process of researching stories, interviewing talent and sharing media with the broader public. She has pursued journalism with the intention of providing a voice to the voiceless in our society.

Liam Murphy

Liam was in in his final semester at Curtin University when he won the scholarship. Born and raised in Gosnells, on the southeastern outskirts of Perth, he has grown to be deeply passionate about telling the stories of the marginalised in our society. Beyond his academic pursuits, Liam continues to contribute to the Curtin Journalism website in his free time.