The Walkley Foundation has announced the finalists for the 67th annual Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism.
The Walkley Awards recognise and reward the best in the craft and set the industry standard for excellence.
Shona Martyn, CEO of the Walkley Foundation, said: “Our hearty congratulations to this impressive array of Walkley Awards finalists who have risen to the top in hotly-contested categories in a big year for news and current affairs. This is work that makes a difference, that creates change, holds the powerful to account and holds a mirror up to our nation and its culture and our world. The 2022 finalists exemplify the best of Australian journalism from writers, photographers, cartoonists, production teams and documentary makers. We look forward to celebrating the Walkley Awards winners in Sydney on November 17.”
Finalists are selected by panels of peers on the basis of overall merit and journalistic excellence. The Walkley Foundation encourages a diversity of entries from journalists around Australia. This year we received 1304 entries.
67th Walkley Award finalists
PRINT/TEXT NEWS REPORT
Award Partner Media Super
Melissa Cunningham, The Age, “The Melbourne ICU where the unvaccinated die in disbelief”
Aisha Dow, Nick McKenzie and Joel Tozer, The Age, “Triple-zero crisis”
Samantha Maiden, news.com.au, “Captain’s Pick”
PUBLIC SERVICE JOURNALISM
Award Partner Sydney Airport
Anne Connolly, Stephanie Zillman and Ali Russell, ABC Four Corners, “State Control”
Ruby Jones, Georgia Cranko, Erik Jensen and Elle Marsh, Schwartz Media, 7am, “The killing of Ann Marie Smith”
Katri Uibu, ABC News, “Bad parent: Life at the hands of Australia’s child protection system”
INNOVATION
Award Partner Google News Initiative
Anna Caldwell and the Daily Telegraph documentary team, The Daily Telegraph, “The War”
Mark Doman and Michael Slezak, ABC, “Using 3D techniques to tell immersive stories” (1, 2, 3)
Colin Gourlay, Georgina Piper, Tim Leslie, Cristen Tilley and Matt Liddy, ABC News, “The Australian election map has been lying to you”
HEADLINE, CAPTION OR HOOK
Anna Caldwell, The Daily Telegraph, “Need a rapid test? Play the Poms”, “Thor-assic Park”, “Return Serb”
Simon Firth, News Corp Australia, “Oscars Slap”, “Packer sells Crown”, “Taking care of business”
Patrick Lenton, The Conversation, “The explosive history of the 2,000-year-old Pompeii ‘masturbating’ man”, “Cardboardeaux, bag-in-box, and goon: why Australia’s love affair with boxed wine endures”, “Did everyone in Bridgerton have syphilis? Just how sexy would it really have been in Regency era London?”
FEATURE WRITING LONG (OVER 4000 WORDS)
Chloe Hooper, The Monthly, “Goddamn bloody adult: Jacqui Lambie”
Anna Krien, The Monthly, “A Shooting in Yuendumu”
John van Tiggelen, The Monthly, “The Wash-up”
FEATURE WRITING SHORT (UNDER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age
Greg Bearup, The Weekend Australian Magazine, “The Parish Uprising”
Peter Hartcher, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Radioactive: Inside the top-secret AUKUS subs deal”
Will Swanton, The Australian, “The Babushka Smuggle”
COVERAGE OF INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS
Award Partner PwC Indigenous Consulting
Brooke Fryer, Claire Aird, Sissy Reyes and Patrick Forrest, SBS, The Feed, “Vanished: The unsolved cases of First Nations women”
Charlotte King and Carly Williams, ABC, Background Briefing, “The Fight for Control Over Black Births”
Louise Milligan, Naomi Selvaratnam and Lauren Day, ABC TV, Four Corners, “Heart Failure”
COVERAGE OF COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS
Award Partner BHP
Sam Carmody, Anthony Pancia, Wayne Webb and Zac Webb, ABC, Background Briefing, ABC South West and Undalup Association, “The Ghosts Are Not Silent”
Samantha Jonscher and Alex Barwick, ABC Alice Springs, “Gendered violence in Central Australia”
Joanne Shoebridge, Julie Ray, Renata Gombac and Justine Frazier, ABC North Coast, “Northern Rivers flood catastrophe”
CARTOON
Award Partner Epson
Matt Golding, Nine Media, “Voice to Parliament”
Fiona Katauskas, Australian Community Media, “Propertied”
Mark Knight, Herald Sun, “Not everyone has to be Scott Morrison”
SPORTS JOURNALISM
Award Partner University of Queensland
Craig Butt and Concussion Project Team, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, “Concussion in sport”
Lorna Knowles, Nikki Tugwell and Clare Blumer, ABC, “Painful Past: the John Wright series”
Jeremy Story Carter, ABC National Regional Reporting Team, “Death of a footy club”
SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY
Robert Cianflone, Getty Images, “A Glamorous Job”
Quinn Rooney, Getty Images, “Swimming World”
Cameron Spencer, Getty Images, “Sport is Back!”
RADIO/AUDIO NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS
Award Partner ABC
Andrew Probyn and Matthew Doran, ABC, “The Macron-Morrison Spat”
Sean Rubinsztein-Dunlop, ABC, “Ukraine war crimes”
David Sparkes, ABC, “Northern NSW floods”
RADIO/AUDIO FEATURE
Award Partner Telum Media
Patrick Abboud and Simon Cunich, Audible / Amazon, “The Greatest Menace: Inside the Gay Prison Experiment”
Rachael Brown, Mahmood Fazal and the Background Briefing team, ABC Background Briefing, “What happened to the Saudi sisters?”
Tom Steinfort and The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes team, Nine, “Liar Liar: Melissa Caddick and the Missing Millions”
PRODUCTION
Award Partner Twitter
Patrick Abboud and Simon Cunich, Audible/ Amazon, “The Greatest Menace: Inside the Gay Prison Experiment”
Mark Stehle and The Journey through Ukraine Team, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, “6000km journey”
Mark Willacy, Stephanie March, Josh Roberston and Kyle Taylor, ABC Four Corners, “Ghosts of Timor”
SCOOP OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nine News
Simon Benson, Geoff Chambers and Samantha Maiden, The Australian, “Ministry of Secrets”
Kirsty Needham, Reuters, “China’s push for Pacific security deals”
Bevan Shields, The Sydney Morning Herald, “‘I don’t think, I know’”
COVERAGE OF A MAJOR NEWS EVENT OR ISSUE
Award Partner Sky News Australia
Anthony Galloway and Kate Geraghty, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, “The invasion of Ukraine”
Heath Gilmore and the Hell on High Water Team, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Hell on High Water”
Chris Reason and Seven News Ukraine Team, Channel Seven, “Ukraine War”
NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY
Stephen Dupont, Stephen Dupont Instagram and Facebook, “War in Ukraine”
Natalie Grono, The Saturday Paper and Surfing World Magazine, “Peter takes a moment”
Christopher Hopkins, The Age, “Day 1: Anti Lockdown”
BUSINESS JOURNALISM
Award Partner ING
Sarah Danckert, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, “Secrets at Stake.com”
Nick Evans and John Stensholt, The Australian, “Twiggy’s Green Dream”
Nick McKenzie, Joel Tozer, Amelia Ballinger, Nine, 60 Minutes, “Star and the gambling industry’s reckoning”
FEATURE/PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY
Award Partner Canva
Matthew Abbott, National Geographic Magazine, “Saving forests with fire”
Kate Geraghty, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, “Invasion of Ukraine – Civilian Impact”
Andrew Quilty, Rolling Stone, “Return of the Taliban”
TELEVISION/VIDEO: CAMERAWORK
Matthew Davis, ABC Foreign Correspondent, “Myanmar’s Forgotten War” and “Keep Hawaii Hawaiian”
Ryan Grimshaw, NBN News and Nine Today Show/Nine News, “Ryan Grimshaw floods”
Ryan Sheridan, ABC Four Corners, “Despair and Defiance” and “Feral”
TELEVISION/VIDEO NEWS REPORTING
Award Partner Seven
Carrie-Anne Greenbank, Nine Network, “The War in Ukraine”
Chris Reason, Channel Seven, “Frontline in Ukraine”
Sean Rubinsztein-Dunlop and Phil Hemingway, ABC, “Ukraine war coverage”
TELEVISION/VIDEO CURRENT AFFAIRS SHORT (LESS THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner SBS
Christine Ahern and Thea Dikeos, Nine Network, 60 Minutes, “Dying for Help”
Lorna Knowles and Nikki Tugwell, ABC, 7.30, “Painful Past: the John Wright series” [1, 2, 3]
Josh Robertson, Mark Willacy, Kyle Taylor and Echo Hiu, ABC, 7.30, “Fallen Star”
TELEVISION/VIDEO CURRENT AFFAIRS LONG (MORE THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner TEN News First and The Project
Anne Connolly, Stephanie Zillman and Ali Russell, ABC, Four Corners, “State Control”
Adele Ferguson, Klaus Toft and Lauren Day, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Four Corners, “Cosmetic Cowboys: The unregulated world of cosmetic surgery”
Belinda Hawkins, Kristine Taylor and Roger Carter, ABC, Australian Story, “No Place Like Home”
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Award Partner Guardian Australia
Adele Ferguson, Joel Tozer, Klaus Toft and Lauren Day, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, 60 Minutes, and Four Corners, “Cosmetic Surgery in Crisis”
Nick McKenzie, Joel Tozer and Amelia Ballinger, Nine, “The downfall of the gaming industry”
Hedley Thomas, David Murray, Isaac Irons, and Slade Gibson, The Australian, “Shandee’s Story”
COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS, OPINION AND CRITIQUE
Award Partner Thomson Geer Lawyers
Nikki Gemmell, News Corp, The Weekend Australian “Election Aftermath”, “A Son’s Accident”, “The Untameable New Female”
Erik Jensen, The Saturday Paper, “The Morrison editorials” (Because I said; The halfway man; Scott of the autarchic)
Jacqueline Maley, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, “When Power Shifts” (Morrison, a well-primed minister for everything; You deserve what you get: the Depp-Heard trial was the voice in every victim’s ear; I am one of the hordes turned sleepless by the pandemic)
WALKLEY DOCUMENTARY AWARD SHORTLIST
Christopher Kamen, Franklin, Rock Island Bend Productions
Ben Lawrence and Gabriel Shipton, Ithaka, Shipton House and ABC
Karl Malakunas, Delikado, Thoughtful Robot Productions
WALKLEY BOOK AWARD LONGLIST
(Shortlist to be announced November 3)
Bronwyn Adcock, Currowan, Black Inc Books
Van Badham, QAnon and On, Hardie Grant
Anna Clark, Making Australian History, Penguin Random House
Sean Kelly, The Game: A Portrait of Scott Morrison, Black Inc Books
Louisa Lim, Indelible City, Text Publishing
Nathan Lynch, The Lucky Laundry, HarperCollins
Anthony Sharwood, The Brumby Wars, Hachette Australia
Alexandra Smith, The Secret, Pan Macmillan Australia
Andrew Quilty, August in Kabul, Melbourne University Publishing
NIKON-WALKLEY PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nikon
Brendan Esposito, ABC
Christopher Hopkins, The Age and The Guardian
Brook Mitchell, The Sydney Morning Herald
2022 NIKON PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE WINNERS
These are not Walkley Awards, but prizes administered by the Walkley Foundation on behalf of Nikon. These photos will also appear in the Nikon-Walkley Press Photography exhibition.
NIKON PHOTO OF THE YEAR
WINNER: Natalie Grono, The Saturday Paper and Surfing World Magazine, “Peter takes a moment”
NIKON PORTRAIT PRIZE
WINNER: Justin McManus, The Sunday Age and The Age, “Johnny and his Dogs”
See also: Walkley Awards 2021: Samantha Maiden wins Gold + full winners list