2022 winners
Patrick Abboud and Simon Cunich, Lockdown Productions and Audible, “The Greatest Menace: Inside the Gay Prison Experiment”
Judges said, “The Greatest Menace revisits rumours of a long-forgotten gay prison on the edges of an isolated town in alpine New South Wales. Patrick Abboud and Simon Cunich investigate what happens when prejudice, police cover-ups, and government-sponsored human experimentation collide with notions of sexuality, gender identity, cultural heritage, and faith. An exceptional piece of work.”
Patrick Abboud is an award winning journalist, broadcaster and the director of Only Human Productions creating original long form TV / streaming documentaries. He is also co-director of Lockdown Productions creating investigative podcasts. Pat continues to report and present for The Project on Network 10 and has hosted Conversations for the ABC. Formerly at SBS, Pat was the founder of The Feed, a foreign correspondent for Dateline, and hosted the annual Mardi Gras live TV broadcast.
Simon Cunich is a Canberra-based documentary maker working across film, TV and podcasting. His work has screened on the ABC, SBS and at film festivals around the world. He co-wrote and co-produced The Greatest Menace, an 8-part investigative podcast series on Audible.
2021 winners
Jason Om, Alex McDonald and Ake Prihantari, 7.30, ABC, “Price of Convenience” and “Hungry Panda food delivery company under fire from workers”.
Jason Om is an award-winning reporter, writer and presenter with the ABC’s 7.30 program. He’s previously worked for ABC News Breakfast, the ABC News Channel, ABC Life and Lateline. His memoir, All Mixed Up, will be released in April 2022. Jason started his career as a cadet at SBS.
Alex McDonald is a producer with the ABC’s 7.30 program in Sydney. He was a member of the ABC’s National Reporting Team and investigated alleged sexual misconduct at the Australian Defence Force Academy, revealed evidence of allegedly corrupt deals between Nauruan officials and Australian businesses, and worked on a Walkley-nominated investigation into the misuse of funds and defrauding of Indigenous-run organisations. He has worked as a researcher at Four Corners and as a reporter in the ABC’s Sydney newsroom.
Ake Prihantari has been working at ABC Jakarta Bureau for 17 years. She enjoys being a producer and loves being involved in long-form news stories. Through her work with the ABC, she developed a passionate interest in Indonesian law, more so than when she was a law student. Recently she has just found out that climbing stairs and doing long walks are more therapeutic than writing complaint letters to big corporations – and that yoghurt soju is the best cocktail ever invented.
2020 winners
From biker gangs to prison, Mahmood Fazal is an Afghan-Australian writer on a mission to amplify the voices we don’t hear. After abandoning his role as the sergeant-at-arms of the Mongols Motorcycle Club, Mahmood has devoted his life to bare-knuckle stories that challenge our views on crime, violence, imprisonment and radicalisation. He was awarded Journalist of the Year at the 2018 Publish Awards and shortlisted for Best Documentary at the Australian Podcast Awards. Mahmood is currently writing a memoir, due to be published by Harper Collins in 2021. His writing appears in VICE, The Monthly, i-D and The Saturday Paper.
Rebecca Metcalf is a filmmaker and journalist, currently a shooter-producer at The Feed on SBS. She has also produced for VICE and Audible and has worked as a print news reporter/editor. No Gangsters in Paradise is her first audio documentary. Rebecca aims to make work that allows for nuance and experiments with form.
Judges’ comment: No Gangsters in Paradise provides an honest and raw look into an often marginalised Australian community. It’s a deep dive into some very dramatic events and circumstances from many years ago, the context around which remains extremely relevant today.
