The Herald Sun journalists who broke and led the coverage of the Lawyer X scandal have won the highest honour in Victorian journalism – the Gold Quill Award.
Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon were honoured for their work in 2018 that culminated in the recent revelation that gangland lawyer Nicola Gobbo was a secret police informer who betrayed many of her clients.
The award was presented at the Melbourne Press Club’s annual Quill Awards dinner in Melbourne on Friday 15 March 2019.
The judges said of the winning work: “Anthony Dowsley’s dogged five-year pursuit of truth and public interest to reveal lawyer Nicola Gobbo’s secret double life as a police informer who helped convict many of her own clients exemplifies the very best of modern-day journalism. It was a blockbuster scoop.
“Dowsley’s work with Patrick Carlyon uncovered gross misconduct the consequences of which will reverberate throughout Victoria’s criminal justice system for years to come and could yet see some of the state’s most notorious underworld figures freed from prison.
“The journalists’ tenacity helped overcome many often expensive legal obstacles before they laid out a complex trail of deceit in an engrossing and powerful narrative.”
Dowsley was also named the 2018 Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year at the dinner for his work on Lawyer X and new revelations about the Silk-Miller police murders.
The Gold Quill carries a $7,500 prize supported by the Melbourne Press Club’s Principal Sponsors Virgin Australia and Monash University.
A total of 28 individual Quills were awarded to recognise the best journalism of 2018 in print, television, radio and online.
All the 2018 Quill Award winners:
Matthew Absalom-Wong won the 2018 Artwork Quill for work in The Age
The Herald Sun/Sunday Herald Sun Team won the 2018 Breaking News Coverage Quill for their coverage of the Bourke Street attack
David Stringer, Kit Chellel and Franz Wild of Bloomberg Businessweek won the 2018 Business Feature Quill for ‘When Rio Tinto Met China’s Iron Hand’
Adele Ferguson, Lesley Robinson, Nassim Khadem & Lucy Carter won the 2018 Business News Quill for Mongrel Bunch of Bastards
Matt Golding of The Age won the 2018 Cartoon Quill for ‘Stab … Stability’
• Anthony Dowsley, Patrick Carlyon & Chris Tinkler of the Herald Sun have won the 2018 Coverage of an Issue or Event Quill
• Melissa Fyfe won the 2018 Feature Writing Quill for Get Cliterate
• Justin McManus won the 2018 Features Photograph Quill for ‘The Last Swaggie’, published in The Sunday Age.
• Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon won the 2018 Grant Hattam Quill
• Calla Wahlquist, Lorena Allam, Jack Banister & Nick Evershed won the 2018 Innovation Quill
• Barrie Cassidy won the 2018 Keith Dunstan Quill for Commentary
• Alex Coppel of the Herald Sun won the 2018 News Photograph Quill
• Andrea Hamblin of the Herald Sun won the 2018 News Report in Writing Quill
• Richard Baker, Rachael Dexter, Greg Muller and Tim Young won the 2018 Podcasting Quill
• Timna Jacks and Rachael Dexter of The Age won the 2018 RACV Transport Quill
• Jane Lee won the 2018 Radio Journalism (Long Form) Quill for her investigation into the murder of Jeremy Hu
• Amy Bainbridge, Rachael Brown & Naomi Selvaratnam of ABC Radio AM won the 2018 Radio Journalism (Short Form) Quill for ‘Insurance Industry Reports’.
• Tyla Harrington of the Riverine Herald won the 2018 Regional and Rural Journalism Quill
• Michael Gleeson of The Age won the 2018 Sports Feature Quill
• Leo Schlink of the Herald Sun won the 2018 Sports News Quill
• Getty Images photographer Michael Dodge won the 2018 Sports Photograph Quill for ‘Caught Red Handed’
• Jordy Atkinson of Port Phillip Leader won the 2018 Suburban Journalism Quill
• Jacqui Peake, Billy Lim, Martin Elliott & Warwick Ferguson won the 2018 TAC Towards Zero Quill for Road Safety Reporting
• Louise Milligan, Mary Fallon, Sashka Koloff & Lucy Carter of ABC Four Corners won the 2018 TV/Video Feature (Long Form) Quill
• Tineka Everaardt of Nine Network’s A Current Affair won the 2018 TV/Video Feature (Short Form) Quill for ‘Inside Court’
• Melina Sarris, Jackie Quist & Damian Shine of Seven News won the 2018 TV/Video News Quill
• Samantha Lane of The Age has won the inaugural VicHealth Quill for Coverage of Women in Sport
• Rachael Lucas of ABC Gippsland won the 2018 Victorian Government Quill for Reporting on Disability Issues
• Matilda Marozzi of ABC is the 2018 Young Journalist of the Year
• Peter Bateman of Monash University won the 2018 Student Journalist of the Year award
• Barrie Cassidy was named the Melbourne Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award for a career in journalism spanning over fifty years. Cassidy gave a heartfelt speech, praised the ABC Insiders team from its earliest days to the current generation, advocated for a more compassionate journalism and announced that he would be retiring in June next year after the next election.
• Anthony Dowsley as named the 2018 Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year.