All Media: International Journalism Winner

Mark Simkin, ABC News, ABC TV, “Hurricane Katrina”

Mark Simkin and his cameraman, Tim Bates, were sent into the US state of Louisiana to cover the human disaster in and around New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Working alone, the pair broke curfew, driving in and out of the city at night, filing news stories as angry mobs, looters and trigger-happy police took over the area. Car batteries were used to power computers, scripts were written by torchlight and stories were edited with equipment powered by a portable generator.

Simkin toured the most dangerous parts of the city on an armoured carrier, was the last reporter on the ground as the final
people were evacuated from the Convention Centre and helped save lives as he toured the city by boat. His stories provided economic and political insight into the crisis that humbled a superpower and gravely damaged George W Bush’s presidency.

Mark Simkin is the ABC’s North America correspondent, based in Washington DC. He was previously the ABC’s North Asia correspondent and, in 2004, headed ABC Radio’s news and current affairs coverage of the Athens Olympics.

In more than a decade with the ABC, Simkin has been economics correspondent and co-bureau chief for radio current affairs in the Canberra press gallery, a senior reporter for Lateline and ABC TV’s national finance correspondent.

Judges’ comments
Simkin’s strong reporting in arduous conditions gave Australians an understanding of the magnitude of the disaster and its aftermath. Letting the victims and the images tell the story, his reports painted a comprehensive picture of the difficulties survivors faced, the breakdown in security and the victims’ frustration at the government’s failure to respond adequately to the emergency.