These Walkley categories recognise the best work in any medium - for social equity, sport coverage, community and regional reporting, outstanding interviewing and more.
Links are provided to finalists’ entries wherever possible. These will be updated so please check back. Please note, in some cases entries comprised a number of stories, and the links show a sample of the entry.
Social Equity Journalism
Aaron Lewis and Geoff Parish, Dateline, SBS TV, “The Skin Trade”
Told the story of the albino communities of East Africa, where life-saving sunscreen is a luxury and fear and ignorance led to a spate of savage murders.
Steve Pennells, West Weekend Magazine, “Collateral Damage” (page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4)
Followed up with the survivors and families of the victims of the suicide attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta four years earlier, discovering that promised aid had not been delivered.
Heather Stewart, The Law Report, ABC Radio National, “Queensland’s Child Protection Service”
Negotiated a legal and ethical minefield to investigate the imbalance of power as parents were parted from their children under Child Protection, with no recourse.
Commended:Yaara Bou Melhem, Dateline, SBS TV, “Jordan: Jailing the Innocent”
Coverage of Indigenous Affairs
Proudly sponsored by SBS
Janine Cohen, Liz Jackson and Kate Wild, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Who Killed Mr Ward?”
Heavily researched, forensic account of the events that led to an Aboriginal man’s death in a prison transport van in Western Australia.
Paul McGeough, The Sydney Morning Herald, “The Intervention: Two Years On”
Peeling back the complex layers of a social crisis with creative writing and delicate work to earn the trust of indigenous and non-indigenous sources.
Jamie Walker, The Australian, “Death in Doomadgee”
Reporting the death of a four-year-old girl in remote Queensland, who was turned away from hospital five times, drawing attention to issues in the health system.
Commended:Murray McLaughlin, 7.30 Report, ABC TV, “Young Love”, "Kalumburu" and "Outstations"
Coverage of Community and Regional Affairs
Proudly sponsored by Fairfax
Jodie Duffy, Illawarra Mercury, “Living Nightmare”
Exposed appalling conditions in the Warrawong housing estate, where scores of children are in daily contact with violence, drugs and prostitution.
Louise FitzRoy, Steve Kyte, Kon Karamountzos and Simon Rogers, ABC Kinglake Ranges 94.5FM, “A New Voice”
Kinglake’s first radio station was born as a makeshift studio to report on the Black Saturday bushfire devastation, providing invaluable information and support to the community and training a band of local volunteers.
Bianca Hall, The Melbourne Times, “Paper Tigers”
With extensive contacts and local knowledge, this local paper scooped metro coverage of the sale of the Amcor site on the banks of the Yarra, even on a weekly deadline.
Best Sports Journalism
Proudly sponsored by Nine Network
Anne Connolly, Sarah Ferguson, Ivan O’Mahoney and Kate Wild, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Code of Silence”
The story that shook the NRL by revealing the pervasive attitudes that led to numerous off-field scandals.
Jacquelin Magnay, The Sydney Morning Herald, “The Punch”
Explored the murky anti-female culture at the Cronulla Sharks rugby league club, including a $20,000 cover-up paid to a female former employee accidentally punched by then-chief executive Tony Zappia.
Josh Massoud, The Daily Telegraph, “Parramatta Eels Elections”
More than six months’ coverage of behind-the-scenes power plays at the Parramatta Football and Leagues Clubs, culminating in a board overthrow.
Commended:Trent Dalton, QWeekend, The Courier-Mail, “Shadow Boxer”
Best Scoop of the Year
John Garnaut and Mathew Murphy, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, “Rio Tinto Executives Detained in China”
Broad and deep contacts helped Garnaut and Murphy confirm and break the story of Australian iron and ore sales chief Stern Hu’s disappearance and detention.
Paul Maley, The Australian, “Why I Faked Email: Grech”
Exposed the infamous fake email and collusion between the opposition and Godwin Grech by securing an exclusive statement from Grech.
Cameron Stewart, The Australian, “Operation Neath: Army Base Terror Plot Foiled”
Exclusively revealed the second largest counter-terrorism investigation in Australia’s history after independently discovering the secret operation aimed at thwarting an alleged plot to launch a suicide attack on an Australian army base.
Outstanding Continuous Coverage of an Issue or Event
Proudly sponsored by August
The Age, The Sunday Age and The Age Online team, “Black Saturday”
Continuing and expansive multi-platform coverage of the Victorian bushfires by The Age, Sunday Age and online.
James Thomas, Seven Network and Yahoo Seven, “War Criminal At Large, Government in Hiding”
Tenacious coverage of an East Timorese alleged rapist, torturer and war criminal living in Sydney, near the family of an 11-year-old he allegedly tortured to death.
HeraldSun.com.au team, “Black Saturday Bushfires”
Ongoing multimedia coverage of Victoria’s disaster, including a forum that allowed for real-time conversation between people searching for lost loved ones.
Commended:A Current Affair team, Nine Network, “Kinglake Ground Zero”
Business Journalism
Proudly sponsored by JP Morgan
Sarah Curnow, Liz Jackson and Steve Skinner, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Tax Me if You Can”
A rare insight into the methods the super-rich employ to avoid paying tax, as a protected witness reveals the financial secrets of hundreds of captains of industry.
Duncan Hughes, The Australian Financial Review, “ASIC Knew About Storm for Months”
The January 11 collapse of Storm Financial was the moment the global financial crisis became personal for Australians, but behind the collapse were massive flaws.
Pamela Williams, The Australian Financial Review, “Future Fund Calls Time on Telstra”
A series that took the reader inside the corporate cauldron as Telstra’s directors melted under the heat from one of its largest shareholders – the Future Fund.
Commended:John Garnaut, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Shock and Ore”
International Journalism
Proudly sponsored by Seven Network
Matthew Carney, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Pakistan on the Brink”
Investigates the Taliban’s moves from mountain strongholds to major cities, taking a stranglehold on secular Pakistan, and the implications for the war on terror.
Fouad Hady and Geoff Parish, Dateline, SBS TV, “City of Widows”
Iraqi refugee Hady brings a unique perspective to this tour of a war-torn Baghdad searching for its future after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Li Bin, Robert Hill, Stephen McDonell and Jiang Xin, Foreign Correspondent, ABC TV, “China: Crisis and Control” ("The Last Days of Old Kashgar"; "The Dalai Lama's House"; "The Big Smoke")
Despite the Chinese Government’s attempts to control foreign correspondents, this team filed reports on Kashgar, Tibet and the ailing economic juggernaut.
Commended:Belinda Hawkins, Foreign Correspondent, ABC TV, “One Night in Sofia”
Investigative Journalism
Proudly sponsored by Bayer
Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie, The Age, “Visa Came After Ruling”
A seven-month investigation revealed donations linking the Madafferi mafia family to former immigration minister Amanda Vanstone and other politicians.
Michael Best, Peter Doherty, Michael McKinnon and Neil Warren, Seven News, “Police Corruption”
Revealed allegations of widespread police corruption on the Gold Coast after a tip-off, FoI requests and months of interviewing victims of “dodgy” warrants.
Caro Meldrum-Hanna and Sally Sara, Four Corners, ABC TV, “The Many Faces of Brother Paul”
An Australian man arrested on child sex charges in India had a history of abuse and fraud, yet the charity he worked for stood by him.
Broadcast and Online Interviewing
Proudly sponsored by Ernst & Young
Sarah Ferguson, Four Corners, ABC TV, “The Dishonouring of Marcus Einfeld”, “Code of Silence”, “Buying Back the River”
Interviews with victims of rugby league sex scandals, disgraced Einfeld, and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong broke through spin and pre-prepared answers.
Tracy Grimshaw, A Current Affair, Nine Network, “Simon Cowley”, “Nick D’Arcy”, “Matthew Johns” (video Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
Garnered both sides of the Nick D’Arcy assault case and explosively probed Johns and his wife after he was implicated in a group sex scandal.
Liz Jackson, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Eye of the Storm”, “Who Killed Mr Ward?”
Jackson drew out Glen Fiske, captain of the Marysville CFA, on the bushfires that claimed his wife and youngest child, and took to task the Justice of the Peace and Minister for Justice responsible for the death of an indigenous man while being transported in a prison van.
Commended:David Speers, Sky News, “Mark Arbib”, “John Howard”, “Joe Hockey”
Commentary, Analysis, Opinion and Critique
Jo Chandler, The Age, “Angola versus Angelina”
After travelling through Africa, Chandler set out to use the landscape of failed and frail states to remind readers of the role of media in underwriting democratic, equitable, accountable society.
Paul Cleary, The Australian Financial Review, “The Curse of Plenty”
Two pieces arguing that the failure to properly manage windfall income from commodity booms is perhaps the greatest public policy issue faced by Australia.
Paul McGeough, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Doing the Bidding of Organised Crime”
Commentary and analysis exposing the gulf between the wish-lists of the West and the harsh reality of Afghanistan’s top-down, tribal society in which the winner takes all.
