The 2024 Kennedy Awards finalists for excellence in journalism have been announced.
The award program received a record number of entries, 1014, ahead of last year’s record of 720, and had 96 judges.
The Kennedy Foundation said the standard of entries across the board was exceptional.
"We especially thank all those talented and experienced journalists who gave their time to be part of our company of judges," a spokesperson said.
"But now the job is done and we can now announce the finalists in all 37 categories of this year’s Kennedy Awards.
"Our industry may being facing tough times but our journalists are still killing it with the very best work."
The winners will be announced at The Ballroom of the Royal Randwick on Friday August 16.
Finalists include:
Indigenous Affairs Reporting
● Caroline Graham, Kylie Stevenson and Tilda Colling - NT Schools in Crisis - The Australian
● Four Corners Guarded Team - Guarded - Four Corners, ABC
● Lorena Allam, Sarah Collard and Blake Sharp-Wiggins - Buried Lives: Possible Clandestine Burials at an Aboriginal Children’s Home - The Guardian
Outstanding Cartoon
● Cathy Wilcox - Solid Ground - Nine Network & The Sydney Morning Herald
● Jim Pavlidis - Mowed Down - Nine Publishing
● Megan Herbert - Not Fit for Purpose - The Age & The Sydney Morning Herald
Outstanding Consumer Affairs
● Christopher Knaus and Lorena Allam - Centrepay: A Vehicle for Economic Abuse? - The Guardian
● Elise Worthington and Lesley Robinson - Ozempic Underground - Four Corners, ABC
● Nassim Khadem - Whiff of Robodebt: ATO Revives Old Tax Debts Totaling Billions - ABC News
Outstanding Court and Legal Affairs Reporting
● Paul Garvey and Rhiannon Down - Direction 99 Debacle - The Australian
● Samantha Maiden, Kerry Warren, Lisa Muxworthy and Alexandra Foster - The Lehrmann Trials - news.com.au
● Tiffiny Genders - Police Secrets - Nine News
Outstanding Crime Reporting
● Brenden Hills, Heath Kelly and Ankit Mishra - The Baddest: Sydney’s Apex Predator Unmasked - The Saturday Telegraph & The Sunday Telegraph
● Liam Mendes - On the Ground of a Youth Crime Crisis - The Australian
● Phil Goyen, Sarah Greenhalgh and Ben Fogarty - Sextortion: Teens, Tech and Tragedy - 7 News
Outstanding Finance Reporting
● Angus Grigg, Elise Potaka, Carla Hildebrandt and Dylan Welch - Super Power - Four Corners, ABC
● Michael Atkin and Loretta Florance - Dirty Money: How Criminals are Getting Away with Laundering Stolen Cash Through Australian Companies - Special Reporting Team - ABC
● Neil Chenoweth - Cracking the Tax Office Omerta - The Australian Financial Review
Outstanding Foreign Correspondent
● Amanda Hodge - Southeast Asia Stories -The Australian
● Colin Cosier - Finding Yusuf: Part 1 and 2 – SBS
● John Lyons - The Forever War - Four Corners, ABC
Outstanding Investigative Reporting
● Chris Reason - The Bishop of Broome - Seven News
● Paul Garvey and Rhiannon Down - Direction 99 Debacle - The Australian
● Samantha Maiden - Pay you cash: Spotlight’s Trial and Error - news.com.au
Outstanding Online News Breaking
● 9News Bondi Junction Attack Team - Bondi Junction Attack - Nine News
● Samantha Maiden, Kerry Warren, Lisa Muxworthy, Ally Foster and Liz Bourke - The Lehrmann Trials - news.com.au
● The Sydney Morning Herald Newsroom - Bondi Junction Coverage - The Sydney Morning Herald online & across Nine Publishing
Outstanding Political Reporting
● Andrew Probyn & Bailey Kenzie - The Immigration Directive – Nine Network
● Ewin Hannan - John Setka vs the AFL – The Australian
● Paul Garvey and Rhiannon Down - Direction 99 Debacle - The Australian
Outstanding Reporting on Human Rights, Social or Religious Affairs
● Alexi Demetriadi - Hate Speech in NSW - The Australian
● Four Corners Guarded Team - Guarded - Four Corners ABC
● Linton Besser, Ronan Sharkey and Brendan Esposito - Rainbow Lodge – ABC
Outstanding Reporting on the Environment
● Daniel Clarke - Kangaroo Island Environmental Disaster - Ad Hoc Docs
● Gock Kamin, Angus Grigg and Lesley Robinson - Snowy 2.0 and The $2 Billion Mistake - ABC
● Sean Mantesso, Hellena Souisa, Sally Brooks and Raffa Athallah - The Price of Progress: Inside Indonesia’s Nickel Rush - ABC
Outstanding Sport Reporting
● Jeremy Story Carter - She Can Play - ABC
● Julian Linden - Under the Surface - The Daily Telegraph
● Tom Decent - The Secret Zoom Call That Brought Down a Wallabies Coach - The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age
Outstanding 3 Headlines
● Jakeb Waddell - AH, KANE HAS DONE IT AGAIN, NO CHANCE IN VFL, TAKES ONE TO NO.1- The West Australian & Seven West Media
● Jason Walls - THE CREPES OF WRATH, THE WRIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT, COPS PICK RACE-ISM CAR - NT News
● James Siver - YOU WANNA PIZZA ME?, HEENEY MEANIE MIGHTY SHOW, SACRE BLEURGH - News Corp
Outstanding Team Player or Mentor
● Gareth Harvey - Nine Network
● John Lyons - ABC
● Kathryn Wicks - The Sydney Morning Herald
Scoop of the Year
● Andrew Probyn and Bailey Kenzie - The Immigration Directive – Nine Network
● Clementine Cuneo, Mark Morri and Josh Hanrahan - A killer in the ranks: Cop Wanted Over Paddington Double Murder - The Daily Telegraph
● Nick McKenzie, Michael Bachelard and Amelia Ballinger - Pezzullo Text Scandal - The Age & The Sydney Morning Herald
Regional Broadcast Reporting
● Daniel Clarke - Kangaroo Island Body of Work - Ad Hoc Docs
● Micaela Hambrett and Joanna Woodburn - Dust Up, Cadia Gold Mine Investigation – ABC
● Toni Ambrogetti and Michael Evans - Grooming and sexual abuse of Narrabri student Dean Gray uncovered – NBN/Nine
Student Journalist of the Year
● Chloe Bell - The University of Queensland
● Jonathan Weitz-Freeman - University of Technology Sydney
● Yasmine Alwakal - University of Technology Sydney
Young Journalist of The Year
● Bailey Kenzie - Body of Work - Nine News, The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age
● Ellie Dudley - The judges’ war with the DPP - The Australian, News Corp
● Gillian Lantouris - Body of Work – Nine News, The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age
PRINT/TEXT
Outstanding Columnist
● Annabel Crabb - Hitting A Nerve: Three Columns - ABC
● Christopher Dore - Front Dore - The Nightly, Seven West Media
● John Silvester - Melbourne Crime - The Age
Outstanding Feature Writing
● Bill Ormonde - Out of the Darkness - ABC Landline and ABC online
● John Lyons - Body of Work - ABC News and ABC online
● Tim Elliot - Eyes on the Prize - Good Weekend Magazine, Nine Publishing
Outstanding Travel Writing
● Catherine Marshall - Prime Mates – The Sunday Age
● Fiona Harari - Budapest, Magda and Me - The Australian
● Tracey Croke - Silicone Boobs, Queer History and Sydney’s best LGBTQIA+ bars with Kiama Blowhole - Adventure.com
Racing Writer of the Year
● Ben Dorries - Damien Oliver” The GOAT” retirement exclusive + body of work - News Corp
● Ray Thomas - Tom Magnier - Revealing interview and feature story - News Corp
● Ray Thomas - Storm Boy and his group of eclectic owners aiming for Golden Slipper glory - News Corp
Outstanding Digital Innovation
● Alex Lim, Katia Shatoba and Thomas Brettell - The Mullet is Alive and Well in AFL - ABC News
● Hedley Thomas and The Australian Podcast Team - Bronwyn - The Australian
● The Visual Stories Team, Use of AI - The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age
Regional Reporting Print and Online
● Fiona Killman, Tijana Birdjan, Dan Proudman and Jake McCallum - DV Horror - News Corp
● Madeline Link - Bullying, forgery, lying’: ex-volunteers claims against What Were You Wearing? Australia - Newcastle Herald/Australian Community Media
● Oliver Jacques - $32 million Griffith tax fraud - Region Media Group
TELEVISION/VIDEO
Outstanding News Camera Coverage
● Fletcher Yeung - Volunteer Doctors Evacuate Wounded Soldiers in Ukraine - ABC News
● Nine News Camera Team - Coverage of Bondi Stabbings – Nine News
● Paul Peric - Murdered in Mexico: Callum and Jake Robinson – Nine News
Outstanding Nightly Television Current Affairs Reporting
● Hannah Sinclair - NDIS Investigation - A Current Affair,& Nine Network
● Alison Piotrowski - Murdered in Mexico: Callum & Jake Robinson - Nine News
● Peta Credlin - Unearthing the Full Uluru Statement – Sky News Australia
Outstanding Television Current Affairs Reporting - Long Form
● Agnes Teek and Colin Cosier - Finding Yusuf – Dateline, SBS
● Amelia Ballinger and Nick McKenzie - The Power Player, 60 Minutes, Nine Network
● Anne Connolly, Amy Donaldson and Jessica Longbottom - Careless- Four Corners, ABC
Outstanding Television News Reporting
● Ben Lewis - October 7 Attacks - SBS World News
● Chris Reason - Israel-Hamas War - 7 News
● 9News & Current Affairs Team- Nine News breaking/rolling coverage of Bondi Stabbings - Nine Network
Outstanding Documentary
● Dora Weekly, Orly Danon, Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters - Revealed: Ben Roberts-Smith Truth on Trial - Stan
● 7 News Digital Team - The Devils Outback Playground - 7 Plus and YouTube
● Katrina McGowan, Janine Hosking, Mat Cornwell and Carrie Fellner - How to Poison a Planet - Stan
AUDIO JOURNALISM
Outstanding Podcast
● Hedley Thomas and The Australian Podcast Team- Bronwyn - The Australian
● Michael Bachelard, Ruby Schwartz - Trial By Water - The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age
● Paul Farrell, Mario Christodoulou and Benjamin Sveen - Stop and Search - Background Briefing, ABC
Outstanding Radio News and Current Affairs
● Allyson Horn - Israel/Gaza - ABC News
● Peter Ryan - Demise of the Flying Kangaroo. Sacked Qantas workers win David vs Goliath battle, airline’s reputational crisis deepens. - The World Today, ABC News Daily - ABC Digital & ABC Radio
● Luke Davis, Ben Fordham, Mark Levy, Will Bottom and the extended 2GB News, Production and Social Teams - Bondi Junction Attacks - 2GB Sydney
PHOTOGRAPHY
Outstanding News Photography
● Karim Bauer and Ben McDonald - Westfield Bondi Stabbings: Aftermath of Terror - Matrix Media Group
● Mick Tsikas - Tears for Albo - Australian Associated Press
● Patrick Hamilton - Bondi Westfield Tragedy: Mother of a Mass Murderer - The Daily Mail
Outstanding Portrait Photography
● Steve Robson - Rohan Thomson - (Freelancer) The Australian
● Jonathan Carroll - Big Dan - The Newcastle Herald/Australian Community Media
● Eddie Jim - Fighting, Not Sinking - The Age & The Sydney Morning Herald
Outstanding Sports Photography
● Robert Cianflone - Matildas Mania - Getty Images
● Nick Moir - Birdsville Rodeo - The Sydney Morning Herald
● Eddie Jim - Light and Shadow - The Age
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