Celebrating journalists at 2024 Mid-Year Walkleys

June 26, 2024

We’re thrilled that many of our journalist members were recognised at the Walkley Foundation’s Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism, held on 20 June 2024 in Sydney.

Winners were peer-judged and selected on the basis of overall merit and journalistic excellence. Walkley Foundation Chief Executive, Shona Martyn, said: “The quality of the entries was extremely high this year. The Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism recognises both the rising stars of journalism and more senior specialist reporters committed to crucial concerns of our times. In every instance, the judges had a tough job selecting the winners and finalists.”

Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund is proud to support two awards recognising excellence in journalism about the creative arts, from the perspectives of both practitioners and critics. The June Andrews Award for Arts Journalism went to Marc Fennell, Corrin Grant, Dean Brosche and Una Butorac, for the SBS News Documentaries, ‘The Mission‘. The Pascall Prize for Cultural Criticism went to Copyright Agency member, André Dao, for The Saturday PaperMeanjin and Liminal Review of Books, ‘Review of Nam Le’s 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem’, ‘A Minor Australian Literature’, ‘Fugue’. The winner of each award receives $5,000 in prize money from our Cultural Fund.

Congratulations to Copyright Agency members who took home the following awards:

Shortform journalism – Liam Mendes, The Australian, for ‘NT body of work’  (“No idea what we’re facing”: Alice crime scourge escalating’, “This situation is a travesty”: justice not served in this territory’, ‘Voice referendum: Rita Jingo asks Australians to think about what their vote means for her grandchildren’)

Public service journalism – Olivia Jenkins, Herald Sun, (‘Abandoned‘, ‘Rescue Mission‘, ‘Provider faces fake docs fine‘)

Coverage of Science and the Environment – Elise Kinsella (with Madi Chwasta and Joseph Dunstan), ABC, ‘Air Pollution at Southern Cross Station’ (‘Why Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station may have some of the ’least clean’ air in the city’, ‘Living above Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station, Catherine’s family can smell the fumes’, ‘Instagram reel’)

June Andrews Award for Industrial Relations Reporting – Ewin Hannan, The Australian, ‘CSL’s secret plan to cut pay, sack staff’ (‘“Industrial bastardry”: CSL’s secret plan to cut pay, sack staff’, ‘Unions tell super funds to drop CSL’, ‘Directors at CSL “must quit Reserve”’)

June Andrews Award for Freelance Journalist of the Year – Gabriella Coslovich, Good Weekend and The Saturday Paper, ‘Body of work’  (‘Fine Lines’, ‘The Art of War’, ‘Grand-standing’)

June Andrews Award for Women’s Leadership in Media – Jess Hill (with Tosca Looby), Northern Pictures/SBS/The Monthly, ‘Asking for it’ (Episode 2Episode 3); ‘How to Change a Bad Law‘)

For a full list of winners, head to the Walkley Foundation’s website.