Finalists in the 64th annual Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism were announced Thursday at simultaneous events in Sydney and Melbourne. Journalists around Australia submitted over 1,300 entries, which were judged by more than 100 senior industry representatives.
The finalists for the 2019 Nikon-Walkley Awards for Excellence in Photojournalism and the Walkley Documentary Award were announced last week. Finalists for the Business Journalism category were announced on Wednesday October 15.
Award winners will be announced at a gala dinner on Thursday November 28, at the ICC Ballroom in Sydney.
The awards will be broadcast live on Sky News Extra (Foxtel Channel 604) and streamed on the Walkley website (walkleys.com) from 7.30pm.
2019 Walkley Award finalists
PRINT/TEXT NEWS REPORT
Award Partner Media Super
• Michael Koziol and Jennifer Duke, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Guthrie ordered to sack top ABC reporter”, “ABC chair’s ‘bias’ email” and “Revealed: ABC boss’ secret dossier”
• Kirsty Needham,The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times, “Xinjiang – the buildings where people go in, but don’t come out”
• Ben Schneiders and Royce Millar,The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, “SourDough: Australia’s High-End Restaurant Scandal”
PUBLIC SERVICE JOURNALISM
• Anne Connolly, Mary Fallon and Patricia Drum, Four Corners, ABC TV and ABC Digital, “Who Cares?”
• Louise Milligan and the Four Corners Team, Four Corners, ABC TV and ABC News Online, “Guilty: An investigationinto George Pell”
• Mark Willacy, Peter Cronau, Louie Eroglu and Naomi Selvaratnam, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Inside the Watch House”
INNOVATION
• ABC News Team, abc.net.au, “Satellite storytelling”
• Kylie Boltin, Matt Smith and Tamara Dean, SBS, “Missing: The Story of Abducted School Girl Wendy Pfeiffer and the Pitjantjatjara Trackers who found her”
• Caro Meldrum-Hanna, Exposed & ABC Digital Team, ABC, “EXPOSED: The Case of Keli Lane”
HEADLINE, CAPTION OR HOOK
Award Partner Qantas
• Anthony DeCeglie, The West Australian, “FAKE EWES”, “PREY TO GOD” and “THE ESSENCE OF HUMANITY”
• Baz McAlister, The Courier-Mail, “Time to Haul Ass”, “Give ‘Em a Finch and They’ll Take a Mine” “Halal… Is it Meals You’re Sooking For”
• Duska Sulicich, The Ageand The Sunday Age, “The Instagram Generation”, “Bold and the Baroque” and “The Stringer”
FEATURE WRITING LONG (OVER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner UQ
• Amanda Hooton and Joanne McCarthy, Good Weekend Magazine, The Sydney Morning Heraldand The Age, “The Nightmare Within”
• Cameron Stewart, The Weekend Australian Magazine, “Joe Hockey’s Game”
• Sam Vincent, The Monthly, “A Nagging Doubt: The Retrial of David Eastman”
FEATURE WRITING SHORT (UNDER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age
• Michael Barnes, Good Weekend, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Counting down the days in God’s waiting room”
• Martin McKenzie-Murray, The Saturday Paper, “Rosie Batty: the private toll of public grief”
• James Oaten, Danny Morgan and Jane Cowan, ABC, “Catching a Catfish”
COVERAGE OF INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS
Award Partner PwC
• Lorena Allam, Guardian Australia and the University of Newcastle’s Colonial Frontiers Massacre Project, Guardian Australia, “The Killing Times”
• Andy Burns and Geoff Thompson, 30, ABC, “Standing Tall”
• Amy McQuire, Griffith Review 65: Crimes and Punishments, “White justice, black suffering: Extracting false confessions”
COVERAGE OF COMMUNITY OR REGIONAL AFFAIRS
Award Partner BHP
• Caleb Cluff, The Ballarat Courier, “The Boys’ Club: Female prison staff revealbrutal culture of abuse”
• Donna Page and Nick Bielby, Newcastle Herald, “Dirty Deeds”
• Sam Tomlin and ABC Kimberley Team,ABC, “Coverage of the Kimberley suicide crisis”
CARTOON
• Pat Campbell, The Canberra Times, “Christchurch Fern”
• Matt Golding, The Age, “Tip of the Iceberg”
• Jon Kudelka, The Australian, “Thirteen O’Clock”
SPORTS JOURNALISM
• Malcolm Knox and Nigel Gladstone, The Sun-Herald, “Caught Out: Cricket’s Inflated PlayerNumbers Revealed”
• Samantha Lane, The Sydney Morning Heraldand The Age, “Adam Goodes: My love for the game died inside me”
• Catherine Marciniak, Compass, ABC TV, ABC iView and ABC Australia YouTube channel, “Leagueability”
SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY
Award Partner Nikon
• Craig Golding, AAP, “Invictus Games 2018”
• Quinn Rooney, Getty Images, “The Art of Sports Photography”
• Cameron Spencer, Getty Images, “H20”
RADIO/AUDIO NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS
Award Partner ABC
• Anne Connolly and Background Briefingteam, ABC Radio National, “The sexual abuse scandal nobody’s talking about”
• Adam Harvey, AM, ABC, “The Survivors of ISIS”
• Gareth Parker, 6PR, “BHP royaltiesfight”
RADIO/AUDIO FEATURE
• Ruby Jones, Neil Mercer and Team Unravel True Crime, ABC, “Unravel Season 2: BarrenjoeyRoad”
• Kirsti Melville, Earshot, ABC Radio National, “The Ghostsof Wittenoom”
• Robyn Ravlich, Earshot, ABC Radio National, “Robert Manne’s Voice”
PRODUCTION
Award Partner Google News Initiative
• Fadzil Hamzah, The Daily Telegraphand The Sunday Telegraph, “The Ibrahim Tapes”
• Caro Meldrum-Hanna, Exposed & ABC Digital Team, ABC, “EXPOSED: The Case of Keli Lane”
• Ali Rae, Al Jazeera English, “All Hail The Algorithm”
SCOOP OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nine News
• Al Jazeera Investigations Unit, Al Jazeera Media Network, “How to Sella Massacre”
• Josh Gerstein and Zoya Sheftalovich, POLITICO, “‘That’s just insane’: Australia’s secret deal with the U.S.”
• Sophie McNeill, Four Corners, ABC, “Escape from Saudi”
COVERAGE OF A MAJOR NEWS EVENT OR ISSUE
Award Partner Facebook
• Melissa Davey and Guardian Australia Team, Guardian Australia, “Coverageof George Pell verdict”
• Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon, Herald Sun, “Lawyer X Informer Scandal”
• Adam Harvey, Tom Hancock and Suzanne Dredge, 30and 7pm News, ABC TV, “Fall of the Caliphate”
NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY
Award Partner Nikon
• Chris McGrath, Getty Images, “The Disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi”
• Matt Roberts, ABC, “The Second Coming of Senator Lambie”
• Jason South, The Age, “Pell”
BUSINESS JOURNALISM
Award Partner ING
• Adele Ferguson, The Sydney Morning Heraldand The Age, “Secret interviews reveal risky business for NAB’s top executives”
• Angus Grigg, Lisa Murray and Jonathan Shapiro,The Australian Financial Review, “The UBS loan scandal”
• Nick McKenzie, Nick Toscano and Grace Tobin, The Age, The Sydney Morning Heraldand 60 Minutes, Nine, “Crown Unmasked”
FEATURE/PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY
Award Partner Nikon
• Chris McGrath, Getty Images, “The End of the Caliphate”
• Ryan Pierse, Getty Images, “The Unlosable Election”
• Jason South, The Age, “Christchurch Massacre”
TELEVISION/VIDEO: CAMERAWORK
Award Partner Australian Super
• Louie Eroglu, Four Corners, ABC, “Proud Country”
• Tom Hancock, 7pm News and 30, ABC, “On the frontline: the final days of Islamic State’s ‘caliphate’”
• Paul Walker, Seven News, Seven Network, “Sydney Stabbing”
TELEVISION/VIDEO: NEWS REPORTING
Award Partner Seven
• Seven News Brisbane Team, Seven News Brisbane, “North Queensland Flood Coverage”
• Seven News Sydney Team, Seven News Sydney, “Sydney Stabbing Rampage”
• Hannah Sinclair, Nine News, “Christchurch gunman’s family breaks silence”
TELEVISION/VIDEO CURRENT AFFAIRS SHORT (LESS THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner SBS
• Paul Farrell and Alex McDonald, 30, ABC, “Robodebt revelations”
• Ali Rae, Al Jazeera English“All Hail The Algorithm”
• Emily Verdouw, BuzzFeed, “Here’s What Refugee Kids Suffering From A Rare Syndrome In Sweden Can Tell Us About Australia’s Offshore Detention Centres”
TELEVISION/VIDEO CURRENT AFFAIRS LONG (MORE THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner TEN
• Anne Connolly, Mary Fallon and Patricia Drum, Four Corners, ABC TV, “WhoCares?”
• Suzanne Dredge, Dylan Welch, David Maguire and Janine Cohen, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Orphans of ISIS”
• Nick McKenzie, Grace Tobin and Nick Toscano, 60 Minutes, Nine, “Crown Unmasked”
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Award Partner Bayer
• Al Jazeera Investigations Unit, Al Jazeera Media Network, “How to Sella Massacre”
• Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon, Herald Sun, “Lawyer X Informer Scandal”
• Angus Grigg, Lisa Murray, Jonathan Shapiro and Edmund Tadros, The Australian Financial Review, “The Paladin Affair—cashing inon refugees”
COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS, OPINION AND CRITIQUE
Award Partner Bond University
• Waleed Aly, The Age, The Sydney Morning Heraldand The Project, Network Ten, “Rage and Restraint”
• Paul Daley, The Guardian, “Interrogatingthe Past”
• Jan Fran, The Feed, SBSVICELAND and associated social media channels, “TheFrant”
WALKLEY DOCUMENTARY AWARD SHORTLIST
• Aftermath: Beyond Black Saturday,Joe Connor, Ken Connor and Lucy Maclaren, Renegade Films and ABC
• The Australian Dream, Stan Grant, Dan Gordon, GoodThing Productions and Passion Pictures UK
• The Final Quarter,Ian Darling, Sally Fryer and Mary Macrae, Shark Island Productions
WALKLEY BOOK AWARD LONGLIST
• Gabrielle Chan, Rusted Off, Vintage, Penguin Random House Australia
• Adele Ferguson, Banking Bad, ABC Books, HarperCollinsPublishersAustralia
• Ean Higgins, The Hunt for MH370, Pan Macmillan Australia
• Jess Hill, See What You Made Me Do, Black Inc.
• Damon Kitney, The Price of Fortune, HarperCollinsPublishersAustralia
• Patrick Mullins, Tiberius with a Telephone, Scribe
• Andrew Rule, Winx: The Authorised Biography, Allen & Unwin
• Leigh Sales, Any Ordinary Day, Penguin Random House Australia
• Matthew Warren, Blackout, Affirm Press
NIKON-WALKLEY PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nikon
• Scott Barbour, Getty Images andAAP
• Chris McGrath, Getty Images
• Jeremy Piper, National Geographic, Oculi and AAP