Whether you’re a past winner, a current finalist or a journalist thinking of entering the next Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism, you may be asking yourself, ‘What exactly are these awards?’
Separate from the better-known Walkley Awards, which are presented in November, the Walkley Foundation presents and administers a suite of awards as part of the Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism which recognises work across major media sectors including print, digital, television radio, podcasts, and photography.
The Walkley Foundation also administers three awards for external partners presented during the Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism:
- Our Watch Award
- Media Diversity Australia Award
- Humanitarian Storytelling Award
In addition, the Foundation presents a series of fellowships, scholarships and grants available to journalists at various stages of their careers.
The highlight of the night is the John B Fairfax Family Young Australian Journalist of the Year Awards which consist of six categories judged by panels of specialist journalists, with an overall winner selected by the Walkley Judging Board.
The full program for the Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism can be found on our website.
All of these awards are highly prestigious, but they are not the Walkley Awards which open each year on July 1. The 68th Walkley Awards will be presented at our annual gala on Thursday, November 23.
Shona Martyn, CEO of the Walkley Foundation said, “The Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism recognises rising stars and some of the specialist reporters of the Australian media.
“These awards, scholarships and fellowships prove there is much to celebrate at a time when the media world is under threat on many fronts – from the financial challenges facing news organisations across the globe to changing consumer behaviour and scepticism about ‘fake news’, the rise of misinformation and disinformation, and the arrival of AI technologies such as ChatGPT.”