Australia’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, both the negatives and the positives, featured prominently among the finalists of the 2015 UNAA Media Peace Awards. A story on an Australian high school’s policy of inclusion demonstrates what a socially cohesive and multicultural society can look like, while contrastingly another finalist highlights the failures in the Australian system which results in the indefinite detention of asylum seekers.
 
Investigations into the inadequacies of government services in Australia also featured, particularly in the areas of mental health, disability and aged care. The lack of services and support offered to families of youths with mental health issues and disabilities, particularly in rural Australia, was a powerful topic among the finalists.
 
This year saw finalists across fifteen categories, from almost every state and territory in Australia. The judges were impressed with the significantly high quality of all entries and faced a difficult task selecting the finalists.
 
Winners of the 2015 Media Peace Awards will be announced at the Awards Presentation Dinner to be held on Friday October 23 at the Pavilion, Arts Centre Melbourne.
 
Major Categories
 
Print – News
 
FINALIST    Ben Doherty and Sarah Malik, Guardian Australia – The
Extraordinary Detention of Sayed Abdellatif
FINALIST    Michael McKenna and Paige Taylor, The Australian – Miss Dhu
FINALIST    Paul Farrell, Guardian Australia – Australia’s Asylum Seeker
Policies
 
Print – Feature
 
FINALIST    Ruth Pollard, Fairfax Media – The Rojava Revolution
FINALIST    Martin McKenzie-Murray, The Saturday Paper – Nauru Rapes:
“There is a war on women”
FINALIST    Michael Bachelard, Fairfax Media – High Tension
 
TV – News and Current Affairs
 
FINALIST    Waleed Aly, Tom Whitty and KB Barker, The Project – Body of
Work
FINALIST    Norman Hermant, ABC – Consumer Directed Care
FINALIST    Jane Bardon and Franco Pistillo, ABC News and Current Affairs
Darwin – Detainess driven to suicide and self harm in immigration detention
FINALIST    Kathy McLeish, Heidi Rexa, Michal McKinnon, ABC – Barrett
Centre Closure
 
TV – Documentary
 
FINALIST    SBS Dateline, Shades of Bad?
FINALIST    Peter Djigirr, David Gulpilil, Rolf de Heer, Molly Reynolds, Vertigo
Productions – Another Country
FINALIST    Harry Bardwell, Kelrick Martin, SBS – Prison Songs
FINALIST    Sophia Turkiewicz, Rod Freedman, Change Focus Media – Once
My Mother
 
Radio – News
 
FINALIST    Nour Haydar, 2SER 107.3fm – Brothers in Faith, Equals in Humanity
FINALIST    Bridget Brennan, ABC Radio Current Affairs – Drug addicted parents struggle to access rehabilitation
FINALIST    Kristina Kukolja and Lindsey Arkley, SBS – Snedden Extradition
Case Tests Australia’s War Crimes Resolve
FINALIST    Sally Sara, ABC – The Return
 
Radio – Documentary
 
FINALIST    Sarah Dingle, ABC Radio National – Radicalisation, deradicalisation and the ‘sweet-talkers’ for IS
FINALIST    Kirsti Melville, David LeMay, 360 Documentaries, ABC RN – The Storm
FINALIST    Sharon Davis, Steven Tilley, Earshot, ABC RN – Inside the NSW Drug Court Series
FINALIST    Claudia Taranto, Laurence Grissell and Steven Tilley, Earshot, ABC RN –
Workers without borders series
 
Photojournalism
 
FINALIST    Chris Hopkins, Fairfax Media – Trauma
FINALIST    Ingetje Tadros – Kennedy Hill
FINALIST    Edwina Pickles, Fairfax Media – Inside the World’s Largest Refugee Camp
Online
FINALIST    Matt Huynh, Matt Smith, Kylie Boltin, Nam Le, SBS – The Boat
FINALIST    Eleanor Bell, Will Fitzgibbon, Chris Zubak Skees, International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists and Centre for Public Integrity – Fatal
Extraction
FINALIST    Peter Djigirr, Rolf de Heer, Molly Reynolds, Vertigo Productions, Still Our Country
 
Special Categories
 
Promotion of Indigenous Recognition
 
FINALIST    Jade Rose, Matt Dwyer, Paul Sinclair, Mirri Mirri – Big Boss: Last Leader of the Crocodile Islands
FINALIST    Lois Kay Cook, Aboriginal Cultural Concepts and Catherin Marciniak, ABC Open – Babe in the Reeds: a story of massacres and resilience
FINALIST    Steve Kinnane, Judy Harrison, Isabelle Reinecke, Griffith Review, Finger Money: The black and white of stolen wages
FINALIST    Paul Daley, The Guardian Australia – Understanding Aboriginal Australia through history and culture
 
Promotion of Positive Images of the Older Person
 
FINALIST    Dr Maggie Haertsch, Simon Cunich, Arts Health Institute – Eileen Kramer
FINALIST    Amy Middleton, Alexis Desaulniers-Lea, Archer Magazine – Issue Four
FINALIST    Monique Schafter, 730 ABC TV – Parkinson’s Patients Punch their way to Improvement
 
Increasing Awareness and Understanding of Women’s Rights and Issues (sponsored by the Office For Women, Department of Premier and Cabinet VIC)
 
FINALIST    Michelle Aleksandrovics, Minelle Creed, SBS Radio – Breaking community silence on violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women
FINALIST    Ginger Gorman, News.com.au – The Terrible Injury Often Overlooked in Domestic Violence
FINALIST    Jenny Brockie, Kyle Taylor, Amanda Xiberras, Insight SBS – Sexual Harassment
 
Promotion of Children’s Rights and Issues
 
FINALIST    Erin O’Dwyer, Marie Claire – What Do You Do?
FINALIST    Jenny Brockie, Kyle Taylor, Alix Piatek, Insight SBS – Holroyd High
FINALIST    Adam Morton, The Sunday Age – Locked in Limbo
FINALIST    Matt Wade, Sydney Morning Herald – Girl mothers and famine survivors: Inside the world’s biggest refugee camp
FINALIST    Kathy McLeish, Heidi Rexa, Michael McKinnon, ABC – Barrett Centre Closure
 
Promotion of Multicultural Issues (sponsored by the Australian Multicultural Foundation and Scanlon Foundation)
 
FINALIST    Ges D’Souza and Tim Wilson, ABC TV – Just Call Jamal
FINALIST    Michael Bradley, The Drum – Collection of Articles
FINALIST    Jenny Brockie, Kyle Taylor, Alix Piatek, Insight SBS – Holroyd High
FINALIST    Sarah Dingle, ABC Radio National – Radicalisation, deradicalisation and the ‘sweet talkers’ for IS
 
Promotion of Disability Rights and Issues
 
FINALIST    Jeannette Francis, SBS The Feed – Spectrum of Hope
FINALIST    Rachel Carbonell, Chris Bullock, Leila Shunna, ABC Radio National – Stuck in God’s Waiting Room
FINALIST    Amelia Paxman, Sally Wortley, Veronica Fury, WildBear Entertainment
– Crack Up
 
Promotion of Climate Change Issues
 
FINALIST    Waleed Aly and Tom Whitty, The Project – Renewable Energy Target
FINALIST    Adam Morton, The Sunday Age – The Road to Paris
FINALIST    Eric Campbell, Brieta Hague, David Martin, Scott Monor, ABC
– Southern Exposure