The Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism
2023 nominations closed
This year the directors will only consider women nominees as they seek to redress the gender balance in recipients.
Each year, the Walkley Board of Directors recognise the achievements of a person or group that has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the highest standards of journalism – truth, rigour, integrity and fairness – over their career or period of operation.
This category has been presented since 1992 and has been won by 21 men, seven women and two organisations (no award was presented in 1993). Given this clear imbalance does not reflect the make-up of our industry, in 2023 the directors of the Walkley Foundation will present multiple awards to outstanding women journalists – from the 1990s until today – whose work has not been recognised in this category.
Past winners are:
- Peter Bowers (1992)
- Robert M Duffield (1994)
- John Stubbs (1995),
- Max Fatchen (1996)
- Paul Chadwick (1997)
- Maurie Ferry (1998)
- Tony Koch (1999)
- Paul Murphy (2000)
- Estelle Blackburn (2001)
- Quentin Dempster (2002)
- Julie Duncan (2003)
- Phil Wilkins (2004)
- Australian Cartoonists’ Association (2005)
- Colleen Egan (2006)
- Gerard Noonan (2007)
- Pamela Bone (2008)
- Tony Stephens (2009)
- Cameron Forbes (2010)
- Wikileaks (2011)
- Peter Cave (2012)
- Caroline Jones (2013)
- Peter Greste (2014)
- Trevor Sykes (2014)
- Bruce Petty (2016)
- Michael Gordon (2017)
- Sean Dorney (2018)
- Sue Spencer (2019)
- Ross Gittins (2020)
- George Negus (2021)
- Sally Neighbour (2022)
The Walkley Foundation invites the public to submit nominations for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism through the entry site from July 1 to August 31. Winners of the discontinued Walkley Award for Journalism Leadership will not be eligible.
Entry Form Requirements
The recipient must be nominated by a third party (the Nominator) with at least two detailed additional letters of endorsement.
Nomination cover letter
The Nominator must include:
- An overview of the Nominee’s career
- Major awards
- Their greatest achievements in journalism
- Please demonstrate the impact this person/organisation has had on Australian journalism. Please give examples.
- What makes this person’s / organisation’s contribution outstanding? Please be specific, citing examples.
- At least five examples of their work or detailed examples of their achievements in journalism.
Conflicts of interest
The Nominator must detail their connection to the Nominated Journalist and declare any conflicts of interest.