| 1978 | Gold Walkley | Catherine Martin | | The West Australian, Perth |
| 1979 | Gold Walkley | Ron Tandberg | | The Age, Melbourne |
| 1980 | Gold Walkley | Leslie Grant Heading | | ABC, Hobart |
| 1981 | Gold Walkley | John Lewis | | The Newcastle Herald |
| 1982 | Gold Walkley | Kerry O'Brien | | ATN Channel 7, Sydney |
| 1983 | Gold Walkley | Mary Delahunty, Alan Hall | | Four Corners, ABC TV |
| 1984 | Gold Walkley | Jan Mayman | | Freelance (The Age, Melbourne) |
| 1985 | Gold Walkley | Chris Masters; Bruce Belsham | | Four Corners, ABC TV |
| 1986 | Gold Walkley | Ron Tandberg | | The Age, Melbourne |
| 1987 | Gold Walkley | Phil Dickie | | Courier Mail, Brisbane |
| 1988 | Gold Walkley | Norman Swan | “Scientific Fraud and Dr William McBride” | ABC |
| 1989 | Gold Walkley | Alan Tate; Paul Bailey | | The Sydney Morning Herald |
| 1990 | Gold Walkley | Janet Hawley | | Good Weekend |
| 1991 | Gold Walkley | Monica Attard | | ABC Radio |
| 1992 | Gold Walkley | Jenny Brockie | “Cop It Sweet”. | ABC TV |
| 1993 | Gold Walkley | Phillip Chubb; Sue Spencer | “Labor in Power” | ABC TV |
| 1994 | Gold Walkley | Peter McEvoy | | |
| 1995 | Gold Walkley | David Bentley | “Demidenko - Questions posed on the Author’s Past” | |
| 1996 | Gold Walkley | Peter Hartcher | How the Enemy Became an Ally’ | Australian Financial Review |
| 1997 | Gold Walkley | Mary-Louise O’callaghan - | “Papua New Guinea” | The Australian |
| 1998 | Gold Walkley | Pamela Williams | “The Plan To Smash A Union” | Australian Financial Review |
| 1999 | Gold Walkley | Richard Ackland, Deborah Richards and Anne Connolly | “Cash For Comment” | Media Watch, ABC TV |
| 2000 | Gold Walkley | Mark Davis | “Blood Money” | Dateline, SBS TV |
| 2001 | Gold Walkley | Andrew Rule | “Geoff Clarke: Power and Rape” | The Age, Melbourne |
| 2002 | Gold Walkley | Anne Davies and Kate McClymont | “Bulldogs Salary Cap Scandal” | The Sydney Morning Herald |
| 2003 | Gold Walkley | Richard Moran | Canberra Bushfires | National Nine News, Nine Network |
| 2004 | Gold Walkley | AFR Team - Neil Chenoweth, Shraga Elam, Colleen Ryan, Andrew Main, Rosemarie Graffagnini | Rivkin's Swiss Bank Scandal | Australian Financial Review |
| 2005 | Gold Walkley | Tim Palmer | Aceh Tsunami" and "Jakarta Embassy Bomb" | ABC |
| 2006 | Gold Walkley | Liz Jackson, Lin Buckfield, Peter Cronau, Four Corners | Stoking the fires | |
| 2007 | Gold Walkley | Hedley Thomas | Dr Haneef | The Australian |
| 2008 | Gold Walkley | Ross Coulthart and Nick Farrow | Sunday | |
| 2009 | Gold Walkley | Gary Hughes | Black Saturday 1 & 2 | The Australian |
| 2010 | Gold Walkley | Laurie Oakes | Labor Leaks | Nine Network |
| 2011 | Gold Walkley | Sarah Ferguson, Michael Doyle and Anne Worthington | A bloody business | Four Corners, ABC TV |
| 2012 | Gold Walkley | Steve Pennells | Battle for billions | The West Australian |
| 2013 | Gold Walkley | Joanne McCarthy | Shine the Light | Newcastle Herald |
| 2014 | Gold Walkley | Adele Ferguson, Deb Masters and Mario Christodoulou | Banking Bad | Four Corners (ABC TV) and Fairfax Media |
| 2015 | Gold Walkley | Caro Meldrum-Hanna, Sam Clark and Max Murch | Making a killing | Four Corners, ABC TV |
| 2016 | Gold Walkley | Andrew Quilty | The Man on the Operating Table | Foreign Policy |
| 2017 | Gold Walkley | Michael Bachelard and Kate Geraghty | Surviving IS: Stories of Mosul | The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Fairfax Media |
| 2018 | Gold Walkley | Hedley Thomas and Slade Gibson | The Teachers's Pet | The Australian |
| 2019 | Gold Walkley | Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon | Lawyer X Informer Scandal | Herald Sun |
| 2020 | Gold Walkley | Mark Willacy and the ABC Investigations-Four Corners Team | Killing Field | ABC |
| 2021 | Gold Walkley | Samantha Maiden | “Open Secret: The Brittany Higgins story” | news.com.au |
| 2022 | Gold Walkley | Anne Connolly, Ali Russell and Stephanie Zillman | State Control | ABC, Four Corners |
