Robert Gottliebsen has been honoured with the Melbourne Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to business journalism in Australia at the 2017 Quill Awards ceremony held in Melbourne on Friday.
In a tribute video, Melbourne Press Club president Adele Ferguson said “he totally transformed business journalism”.
Gottliebsen started Business Review Weekly after writing The Australian Financial Review Chanticleer column from its inception. He was also a founding investor and commentator of the pioneering site Business Spectator. He is a former Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year and inductee of the Australian Media Hall of Fame.
Will Swanton of The Australian was another major winner as he was named the 2017 Harry Gordon Australian Sports Journalist of the Year Award for his evocative sports writing.
Harry Gordon – one of the greatest sports writers, war correspondents and newspaper editors of his generation – died in early 2015 at the age of 89.
The judges praised Swanton’s knack for capturing the “emotions and atmosphere” of his subjects. “He has the ability to peel back the curtain and give us a backstage pass. He can look into a subject’s eyes and tell us what is there…” they said.
The other 2017 finalists were Greg Baum of The Age and Grantlee Kieza of The Courier-Mail.
The judges for the award were Neil Mitchell (chair), Louise Evans and Garry Linnell.
Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker of The Age won Australia’s most coveted journalism prize, The Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year, for an outstanding year breaking political scandals.
The award, for work in 2017, was presented at the Melbourne Press Club’s annual Quill Awards dinner in Melbourne on Friday March 16 2018.
The Age’s Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker with their Gold Quill
In a series of reports for The Age and ABC’s Four Corners, McKenzie and Baker unveiled growing Chinese influence over Australian politics, and spectacularly caught out Senator Sam Dastyari warning a Chinese donor that he was under surveillance, a scandal that ended his political career. McKenzie and Baker also broke the Lobster with a Mobster story in Victoria.
The pair have dominated investigative journalism in Australia for more than a decade. McKenzie is also the most decorated journalist in the 23year history of the Quill Awards, having won 24 awards including the Gold Quill twice.
The other 2017 finalists were: Adele Ferguson (The Age), Sally Sara (ABC) and Cameron Stewart (The Australian).
The judges were Barrie Cassidy, Caroline Wilson and Helen Trinca.
2017 Feature Writing Quill winner Jo Chandler
2017 Quill Award winners
2017 Quills: TV/Video Feature (Long Form)
Adele Ferguson, Klaus Toft & Sarah Danckert (ABC’s Four Corners & The Age) won the 2017 TV/Video Long Form Quill
2017 Quills: TV/Video Feature (Short Form)
Laura Turner of A Current Affair won the 2017 TV/Video Feature (Short Form) Quill
2017 Quills: TV/Video News
Alexis Daish (Nine News) won the 2017 TV/Video News Quill
2017 Quills: The Victorian Government Quill for Reporting on Disability Issues
Louise Milligan of ABC 7.30 won the 2017 Victorian Government Quill for Reporting on Disability Issues
2017 Quills: Suburban Journalism
Suzan Delibasic of the Monash Leader won the 2017 Suburban Journalism Quill
2017 Quills: The TAC Towards Zero Quill for Road Safety Reporting
Ebony Bowden won the 2017 TAC Towards Zero Quill for Road Safety Reporting
2017 Quills: The Young Journalist of the Year
Cassie Zervos of the Herald Sun is The 2017 MPC Young Journalist of the Year
2017 Quills: Breaking News Coverage
The Age Newsroom Team won the 2017 Breaking News Coverage Quill for its coverage of the Bourke Street attack.
2017 Quills: Business Feature
Damon Kitney of The Australian won the 2017 Business Feature Quill for his exclusive with James Packer
2017 Quills: Camera Work
James Paul of Seven News won the 2017 Camera Work Quill
2017 Quills: Business News
Adele Ferguson and Sarah Danckert of The Age won the 2017 Business News Quill
2017 Quills: Cartoon
Ron Tandberg of The Age won the 2017 Cartoon Quill for ‘The Big C’
2017 Quills: Feature Writing
The winner of the 2017 Feature Writing Quill is Jo Chandler
2017 Quills: Coverage of an Issue or Event
A Fairfax Media & ABC Team have won the 2017 Coverage of an Issue or Event Quill for “China’s influence – power and payments”
2017 Quills: Artwork
Jamie Brown won the 2017 Artwork Quill for work in The Sunday Age
2017 Quills: Features Photograph
David Caird won the 2017 Features Photograph Quill for “Melbourne High Life”, published in the Sunday Herald Sun
2017 Quills: The Grant Hattam Quill for Investigative Journalism
Group investigations into Chinese influence over Australian politics and a retirement village sector scandal have jointly won the 2017 Grant Hattam Quill for Investigative Journalism.
2017 Quills: Innovation in Journalism
The ABC Trace Team won the 2017 Innovation in Journalism Quill for “Trace”
2017 Quills: The Keith Dunstan Quill for Commentary
Gay Alcorn of Guardian Australia won the 2017 Keith Dunstan Quill for Commentary
2017 Quills: The Gold Quill
Fairfax Media & ABC have won the 2017 Gold Quill
The judges commented:
The courageous and tenacious work of the Fairfax Media/Four Corners team led by The Age’s Nick McKenzie revealed that the Chinese company that bought the Darwin Port had signed a secret $880,000 contract with former trade minister Andrew Robb beginning the day he quit parliament.
The team also revealed that high-profile Labor Senator Sam Dastyari had tipped off a billionaire Chinese donor that he was under surveillance by intelligence agencies – and that the senator had contradicted his party’s and his country’s policies on the South China Sea, then lied about doing so. Dastyari had no choice but to resign.
• Power and Influence, ABC’s Four Corners
• China’s Operation Australia, The Age Online
• ALP takes “illegal” tobacco donations from big Chinese cigarette importer, The Sydney Morning Herald
2017 Quills: News Photograph
Tony Gough of the Herald Sun won the 2017 News Photograph Quill for “Bourke Street massacre”
2017 Quills: News Report in Writing
Josh Gordon, Richard Willingham & Benjamin Preiss of The Age won the 2017 News Report in Writing Quill
2017 Quills: Podcasting
The ABC Trace Team won the 2017 Podcasting Quill for the series “Trace”.
2017 Quills: The RACV Transport Quill
Brendan Donohoe of Seven News won the 2017 RACV Transport Quill
2017 Quills: Radio Current Affairs
Bridget Judd of ABC Local Radio won the Radio Current Affairs Quill
2017 Quills: Radio News
3AW Programs & News won the 2017 Radio News Quill for coverage of the Bourke Street tragedy.
2017 Quills: Regional and Rural Journalism
Tyla Harrington, Andrew Mole, Ivy Wise and Luke Hemer of The Riverine Herald won the 2017 Regional and Rural Journalism Quill
2017 Quills: Sports News
Michael Warner of the Herald Sun won the 2017 Sports News Quill for “Drugs, Lies and Cover-ups”
2017 Quills: Sports Feature
Louise Milligan, Lisa McGregor & Trish Drum of ABC Four Corners won the 2017 Sports Feature Quill
2017 Quills: Sports Photograph
Mark Stewart of the Herald Sun won the 2017 Sports Photograph Quill for “Howe high can he go?”
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Top photo: ABC’s Michael Rowland hosted the evening