All Media: Coverage of Suburban or Regional Affairs Winner

Anthony Radford, Bendigo Weekly, “Every Drop Counts”

In February 2006, the Bendigo Weekly began a campaign that was to stretch over the next three months.

Acting for its community, the newspaper set out to find a solution to water restrictions that had crippled the city for much of the past decade. Bendigo was estimated to have only 12 months of water left when senior journalist Anthony Radford helped guide the campaign with community leaders that set out to save Bendigo. Their answer – a pipeline from the Goulburn system.

Continuing in the face of government and local authority opposition, the campaign resulted in 3000 open letters to Victoria’s deputy premier, John Thwaites, and $70million funding for the pipeline to secure Bendigo’s water supply.

Anthony Radford began his career at the Ballarat Courier in 1996 and has since worked at Western District Newspapers, Courier Newspapers and the Bendigo Advertiser before joining the Bendigo Weekly in 2004. A father of two with one on the way, he also writes a monthly rural column for Melbourne’s Child magazine.

Judges’ comments
Detailed coverage from a small weekly paper addressed a 10-year drought – a real problem with a huge impact on the community. Spread over 15 weeks, Radford’s story was a classic local community campaign with a great outcome. A dogged determined effort from a dedicated local reporter.