Coronacast and Trace win Walkley Awards

Dr Norman Swan, Tegan Taylor and Will Ockenden have won a Walkley Award in the Radio/Audio: News & Current Affairs category for Coronacast.

Rachael Brown, Josie Taylor, Tim Roxburgh, Marty Peralta and the Trace Team have won the Radio/Audio: Feature category for Trace: The Informer.

Australian journalism’s highest honour, the Gold Walkley Award was won by Mark Willacy and the ABC Investigations-Four Corners Team for their six-month long investigation “Killing Field,” which has been vindicated this week by the release of a damning report on the actions of rogue SAS soldiers in Afghanistan.

This is the 65th Annual Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism. This year 1408 entries were received.

2020 started in a way no one could have expected: with a global pandemic. Enter Coronacast, a daily, 10-minute podcast providing the latest evidence on the pandemic by responding to questions from the audience. Every episode was hosted by physician and journalist Dr Norman Swan and health reporter Tegan Taylor, with production by Will Ockenden.

The daily Coronacast podcast was an invaluable font of reliable, calm, professional information that has helped people live their lives safely and is a testament to Swan’s exceptional skills as a public health educator. Swan worked tirelessly for months on end to cover the story with unparalleled knowledge, expertise and accuracy and remained steadfast in the face of political criticism and pressure.

For Trace: The Informer, Rachael Brown and Josie Taylor spent 18 months collecting stories from those in Nicola Gobbo’s orbit. Taylor landed interviews with gangland players and lawyers, while Brown’s coverage of the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants enabled her to share case studies of aggrieved former clients, covert police recordings and secret documents.

Brown caught multiple flights to a secret overseas location to interview Gobbo, while ensuring she didn’t leave any bread crumbs. Supporting interviews were gathered via an encrypted messaging app. The interviews are woven through the podcast, painting a detailed portrait of a woman accused of being the greatest threat to Victorian justice.

The Walkley Foundation benchmarks the industry standard for excellence and best practice journalism, working independently with all media organisations to enable Australian journalists to tell the stories of our nation and strengthen democracy.  The Walkley Awards are the pre-eminent national journalism awards presented annually in Australia. They recognise and reward the best in the craft and set the industry standard for excellence.  
 

The chair of the Walkley Judging Board, Lenore Taylor, praised the range and depth of this year’s winners. 

“During last summer’s fires factual information at times made the difference between life and death,” she said. “Likewise, facts have been the most important tool for limiting the spread of the coronavirus, and our audiences have had a seemingly insatiable thirst for information.  It was the role of journalists to go out and bring us reliable information – because facts are what we do. I am always heartened, if slightly overwhelmed, when I see the array of excellent reporting and writing in contention for a Walkley Award – and the journalistic skill and determination evident in every entry.”

2020 Walkley Award Full Winners List

PRINT/TEXT: NEWS REPORT
Award Partner Media Super

PUBLIC SERVICE JOURNALISM
Award Partner Sydney Airport

INNOVATION
Award Partner Google News Initiative

HEADLINE, CAPTION OR HOOK
Award Partner Qantas

  • Anthony De Ceglie, The West Australian, “The Royal Formerly Known As Prince,” “Bridget Over Troubled Rorters” and “You Had One JobKeeper”

PRINT/TEXT: FEATURE WRITING LONG (OVER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner UQ

PRINT/TEXT: FEATURE WRITING SHORT (UNDER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age

COVERAGE OF INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS
Award Partner PwC Indigenous Consulting

COVERAGE OF COMMUNITY OR REGIONAL AFFAIRS
Award Partner BHP

  • Matthew Kelly, Helen Gregory, Anita Beaumont and Donna Page, Newcastle Herald, “Your Right to Know

CARTOON 

  • David Rowe, The Australian Financial Review, “Thoughts and Prayers”

SPORTS JOURNALISM

SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY
Award Partner Nikon

  • Sam Ruttyn, The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, “UFC 243”

RADIO/AUDIO: NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS
Award Partner ABC

  • Dr Norman Swan, Tegan Taylor and Will Ockenden, ABC, “Coronacast

RADIO/AUDIO: FEATURE

  • Rachael Brown, Josie Taylor, Tim Roxburgh, Marty Peralta and Trace Team, ABC, “Trace: The Informer

PRODUCTION
Award Partner Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas

SCOOP OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nine News

COVERAGE OF A MAJOR NEWS EVENT OR ISSUE
Award Partner Facebook

NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY
Award Partner Nikon

  • Matthew Abbott, The New York Times and Oculi, “A kangaroo rushes past a burning house in Lake Conjola”

BUSINESS JOURNALISM
Award Partner ING

FEATURE/PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY
Award Partner Nikon

  • Nick Moir, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Firestorm”

TELEVISION/VIDEO: CAMERAWORK
Award Partner Australian Super

TELEVISION/VIDEO: NEWS REPORTING
Award Partner Seven

TELEVISION/VIDEO: CURRENT AFFAIRS SHORT (LESS THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner SBS

TELEVISION/VIDEO: CURRENT AFFAIRS LONG (MORE THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner TEN

  • Nick McKenzie, Joel Tozer and Sumeyya Ilanbey, 60 Minutes, Nine, “The Faceless Man

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

  • Mark Willacy and the ABC Investigations-Four Corners Team, Four Corners, ABC, “Killing Field

COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS, OPINION AND CRITIQUE

WALKLEY DOCUMENTARY AWARD
Award Partner NSW Government 

  • Sarah Ferguson, Nial Fulton and Tony Jones, ABC and In Films, Revelation

WALKLEY BOOK AWARD 

  • Lucie Morris-Marr, Fallen, Allen & Unwin

NIKON-WALKLEY PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nikon

  • Matthew Abbott, The New York Times and Oculi 

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO JOURNALISM
Award Partner News Corp Australia

  • Ross Gittins, The Sydney Morning Herald 

GOLD WALKLEY

  • Mark Willacy and the ABC Investigations-Four Corners Team, Four Corners, ABC, “Killing Field

 

 

 


Subscribe to the radioinfo podcast on these platforms: Acast, Apple iTunes Podcasts, Podtail, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Ask Alexa: ‘Alexa, play radioinfo flash briefing’ or ask Google Home: “Hey Google. Play the latest Radioinfo flash briefing podcast.”

 
  Post your job, make sure you are logged in.

 

 

Tags: | | | | |