The mid year Walkley award finalists for 2020 have been announced.
The winners are announced June 17
Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year Awards
All media: Shortform journalism (Supported by ABC)
- Natassia Chrysanthos, The Sydney Morning Herald, “New Year’s Eve bushfire coverage”
- Michael Fowler, The Age, “Travel ban prevented Chinese mum from seeing dying son – then government grants visa exemption”
- Luke Henriques-Gomes, Guardian Australia, “Robodebt leaks expose botched scheme’s failure”
All media: Longform feature or special (Supported by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age)
- Ella Archibald-Binge, The Feed, SBS Viceland, “Australia’s stolen wages shame”
- Avani Dias, Hack, triple j, ABC, “The colleague, the girl, the police: Student framed and imprisoned over terror offences tells whole story for the first time”
- Amber Schultz, Crikey Inq, “Celibacy and obedience: life inside a seminary”
All media: Coverage of community and regional affairs (Supported by Google News Initiative)
- Matt Bamford, ABC Online, PM, ABC Radio, ABC News WA, “Balgo”
- Chantelle Francis, The Weekly Times, “Animal activists”
- Sherryn Groch, The Canberra Times, “Brindabella Christian College investigation”
All media: Visual storytelling (Supported by Sky News)
- Dion Georgopoulos, The Canberra Times, “Australian Bushfire Coverage”
- Tom Joyner, 7.30, ABC, “Australia’s summer of fires”
- Marty Smiley, SBS TV On Demand and Online, “Christian Democratic Party”
All media: Public service journalism (Supported by News Corp Australia)
- Annabel Hennessy, The West Australian, “Kill or Be Killed?: The incarceration of Jody Gore”
- Luke Henriques-Gomes, Guardian Australia, “Reporting on Australia’s welfare system”
- Marty Smiley, SBS TV On Demand and Online, “Service to migrant community”
All media: Student journalist of the year (Supported by Macleay College)
- Nibir Khan, University of Queensland and ABC, “Rohingya refugee families torn apart as loved ones trapped on opposite sides of the world
- Andre Nassiri, University of New South Wales and newsworthy.org.au, “The dark side of Africa’s ‘poster child’” and “Who wins when Rwanda plays the ‘genocide guilt card’”
- Andrea Thiis-Evensen, Monash University, Mojo News and ABC News, “‘It was the worst day of our lives’: Bereaved parents say we must talk about youth suicide,” “Melbourne women claim they are being targeted by fake rideshare drivers” and “Monash student reaching for the stars to save the planet”
Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year (Supported by Jibb Foundation)
The winner of each category will be in the running for the overall Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year Award.
June Andrews Award for Industrial Relations Reporting (in memory of Helen O’Flynn and Alan Knight)
Supported by Ai Group, Unions NSW, ACTU, UTS and MEAA With philanthropic support provided in memory of Emeritus Professor Alan Knight
- Adele Ferguson, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, “Grill’d accused of using traineeships to exploit workers”
- Ben Schneiders and Nick McKenzie, The Age, “John Setka, domestic violence and the unions”
- Ben Schneiders and Royce Millar, The Age, “Anatomy of wage theft”
June Andrews Award for Freelance Journalist of the Year (Supported by Media Super)
- Johanna Bell, StoryProjects, “BIRDS EYE VIEW”
- Nina Funnell, News.com.au, The Mercury and NT News, “Let Her Speak”
- Karishma Vyas, 101 East – Al Jazeera English and Foreign Correspondent, ABC “The War on Afghan Women,” “Afghanistan: The Healers” and “Behind Enemy Lines”
June Andrews Award for Women’s Leadership in Media (Supported by PwC)
- Belinda Hawkins and Angela Leonardi, Australian Story, ABC, “An Innocent Abroad”
- Joanna Lester, Madeleine Hetherton and Rebecca Barry, Media Stockade, NITV and SBS On Demand, “Power Meri”
- Inga Ting and the Digital Story Innovations team, ABC News, “Rough justice: How police are failing survivors of sexual assault”
Our Watch Award (Administered by The Walkley Foundation)
- Nina Funnell, News.com.au, The Mercury and NT News, “Let Her Speak”
- Annabel Hennessy, The West Australian, “Kill or Be Killed? The First Chapter: The incarceration of Jody Gore”
- Kathy Marks, The Weekend Australian Magazine, “Solomon Islands battles epidemic of family violence”
Media Diversity Australia Award (Supported by Media Diversity Australia, CoHealth and The National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters’ Council)
- Johanna Bell, StoryProjects, “BIRDS EYE VIEW”
- Mahmood Fazal and Rebecca Metcalf, Audible Originals, “No Gangsters in Paradise”
- Corrin Grant and Michael Hing, SBS, “Where Are You Really From?”
Arts Journalism Prizes (Through the support of the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund, the winner of each award will receive $5000 in prize money.)
All media: June Andrews Award for Arts Journalism (Supported by Facebook and the Copyright Agency)
- Hagar Cohen and the Background Briefing Team, Background Briefing, ABC, “Under the Hammer”
- Steve Dow, Meanjin, The Saturday Paper and Guardian Australia “Stream Drama,” “Acts of Faith” and “A Buŋgul, a Procession, An Overnight Vigil”
- Rosemary Neill, The Australian, “Brought to book: universities’ new cultural cringe”
All media: The Pascall Prize for Arts Criticism, managed by the Walkley Foundation (Supported by the Geraldine Pascall Foundation and the Copyright Agency)
- Jack Callil, The Lifted Brow, “You But Not: A Review of Esmé Weijun Wang’s The Collected Schizophrenias”
- Melinda Harvey, Sydney Review of Books, “Verisimilitude”
- Mireille Juchau, newyorker.com and The Monthly, “How Dreams Change Under Authoritarianism,” “Twilight Knowing: Jenny Offill’s Weather” and “Missing Witnesses: Valeria Luiselli’s Lost Children’s Archive”
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