ABC Takes The Top Gong At Annual Walkley Awards

Anne Connolly, Ali Russell and Stephanie Zillman have won the Gold Walkley, Australian journalism’s highest honour, for their investigation “State Control” on ABC Four Corners.

The judges said “This was enlightening and determined reporting, giving power to voiceless people and allowing them to tell a story of complete powerlessness. Prompting debate about law reform in various states, it has the potential to effect large-scale public policy reform.”

Brendan Esposito was named the Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year for a powerful body of work spanning Ukraine and Australia for the ABC. Brownyn Adcock won the Walkley Book Award for Currowan (Black Inc. Books) and the Walkley Documentary Award went to Karl Malakunas for Delikado.

The award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism went to Sally Neighbour for her impactful career. In Neighbour’s seven years as Four Corners’ executive producer, the program won 18 Walkleys, including two Gold Walkleys. Four Corners stories she commissioned led to four royal commissions – into youth justice, banking, aged care and Murray-Darling water theft

The 67th Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism were presented in 30 categories, announced tonight in Sydney.

The Walkley Foundation’s chief executive, Shona Martyn said: “This has been a huge year for news with war in Ukraine, horrific floods and a federal election. Australian journalists, photographers and camera operators have excelled in their coverage of these major events, sometimes putting their lives on the line. This year’s best journalism also includes stories that were uncovered by old school legwork, tips, hard work, hunches and painstaking and considered investigation. I congratulate all the winners and finalists for their recognition in the 67th Walkley Awards. And thank our sponsors and partners for their support.”

The chair of the Walkley Judging Board, Michael Brissenden, praised the range and depth of this year’s winning entries, which must have been published, broadcast or televised in Australia in the 12 months from September 1, 2022 to August 31, 2022.

“2022 has been another cracker of a year for Australian journalism. It is our mission at the Walkley Foundation to celebrate and support great Australian journalism and 2022 certainly hasn’t disappointed. A year that has seen significant and powerful reporting on the fall out from the Covid pandemic, on extraordinary abuses of trust and power in sport and in government, on Indigenous issues and the environment and of course on the floods and Ukraine … alongside the usual standout efforts of investigative reporters, great photography, cartoons and production skills, and important analysis and commentary. Judging the best of all this isn’t easy and we congratulate all the winners and finalists.”

Winners of the Walkley Awards were selected by the Walkley Judging Board in October, after first round peer-judging in September. The Walkley Book Award and the Walkley Documentary Award were judged separately by experts in those fields.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

PRINT/TEXT NEWS REPORT
Award Partner Media Super

Aisha Dow, Nick McKenzie and Joel Tozer, The Age, “Triple-zero crisis”

PUBLIC SERVICE JOURNALISM 

Award Partner Sydney Airport

Anne Connolly, Ali Russell and Stephanie Zillman, ABC Four Corners, “State Control”

INNOVATION

Mark Doman, Michael Slezak and the Digital Story Innovation Team, ABC, “Using 3D techniques to tell immersive stories” [’Lawless’ loggers; Culture in the Crosshairs; The ‘Syria playbook’; How a Tongan volcano shocked the world]

HEADLINE, CAPTION OR HOOK

Award Partner Twitter

Simon Firth, The Australian, “Hits & Mrs: It’s an Oscars like no other”; “Packer’s Act 3: Easy lies the head that no longer wears Crown”; “Pharma wants a knife: cashed up Mayne keen to cut some deals”

FEATURE WRITING LONG (OVER 4000 WORDS)

Chloe Hooper, The Monthly, “Goddamn bloody adult: Jacqui Lambie”

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

Will Swanton, The Australian, “The Babushka Smuggle”

COVERAGE OF INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

Award Partner PwC’s Indigenous Consulting

Brooke Fryer, Claire Aird, Sissy Reyes and Patrick Forrest, SBS, The Feed, “Vanished: The unsolved cases of First Nations women”

COVERAGE OF COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS
Award Partner BHP
ABC North Coast Team, ABC North Coast, “Northern Rivers flood catastrophe”

CARTOON 

Award Partner Epson

Mark Knight, Herald Sun, “Not everyone has to be Scott Morrison”

SPORTS JOURNALISM

Award Partner University of Queensland

Lorna Knowles, Nikki Tugwell and Clare Blumer, ABC, “Painful Past: the John Wright series”

SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY
Cameron Spencer, Getty Images, “Sport is Back!”

RADIO/AUDIO NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS
Award Partner ABC

Sean Rubinsztein-Dunlop, ABC, “Ukraine war crimes”

RADIO/AUDIO FEATURE

Award Partner Telum Media

Patrick Abboud and Simon Cunich, Audible / Amazon, “The Greatest Menace: Inside the Gay Prison Experiment”

PRODUCTION 

Award Partner Google News Initiative

Mark Stehle and The Journey through Ukraine Team, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, “6000km journey”

SCOOP OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nine News

Kirsty Needham, Reuters, “China’s push for Pacific security deals”

COVERAGE OF A MAJOR NEWS EVENT OR ISSUE
Award Partner Sky News Australia

Seven News Ukraine Team, Channel Seven, “Ukraine War”

NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY

Natalie Grono, The Saturday Paper and Surfing World Magazine, “Peter takes a moment”

BUSINESS JOURNALISM

Award Partner ING

Nick McKenzie, Joel Tozer, Amelia Ballinger, Nine, 60 Minutes, “Star and the gambling industry’s reckoning”

FEATURE/PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY

Award Partner Canva

Kate Geraghty, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, “Invasion of Ukraine – Civilian Impact”

TELEVISION/VIDEO: CAMERAWORK

Ryan Sheridan, ABC Four Corners, “Despair and Defiance” and “Feral”

TELEVISION/VIDEO NEWS REPORTING
Award Partner Seven

Chris Reason, Channel Seven, “Frontline in Ukraine”

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

Lorna Knowles and Nikki Tugwell, ABC, 7.30, “Painful Past: the John Wright series”

TELEVISION/VIDEO CURRENT AFFAIRS LONG (MORE THAN 20 MINUTES)

Award Partner TEN News First and The Project

Adele Ferguson, Klaus Toft and Lauren Day, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Four Corners, “Cosmetic Cowboys: The unregulated world of cosmetic surgery”

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

Award Partner Guardian Australia

Hedley Thomas, David Murray, Isaac Irons, and Slade Gibson, The Australian, “Shandee’s Story”

COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS, OPINION AND CRITIQUE

Award Partner Thomson Geer Lawyers

Nikki Gemmell, News Corp, The Weekend Australian, Australia Now, “Election Aftermath”, “A Son’s Accident”, “The Untameable New Female”

WALKLEY DOCUMENTARY AWARD 

Karl Malakunas, Thoughtful Robot Productions, Delikado

WALKLEY BOOK AWARD 

Award Partner Banki Haddock Fiora

Bronwyn Adcock, Currowan, Black Inc. Books

NIKON-WALKLEY PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 

Award Partner Nikon

Brendan Esposito, ABC

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO JOURNALISM

Award Partner News Corp Australia

Sally Neighbour

2022 GOLD WALKLEY

Award Partner Ampol

Anne Connolly, Ali Russell and Stephanie Zillman, ABC Four Corners, “State Control”

The 2022 Walkley Judging Board were:

• Chair: Michael Brissenden, independent senior journalist and author
• Deputy chair: Cameron Stewart, The Australian
• Sarah Abo, 60 Minutes, Nine
• Neil Breen, 4BC Breakfast 
• Ben Butler, Guardian Australia
• Jane Doyle, Seven News Adelaide
• Anton Enus, SBS World News
• Michelle Gunn, The Weekend Australian
• Stephen Hutcheon, ABC
• Narelda Jacobs, Network Ten
• Dean Lewins, AAP
• Hamish Macdonald, The Project, Network Ten
• Karen Middleton, The Saturday Paper
• Donna Page, The Newcastle Herald
• Sarah-Jane Tasker, The West Australian
• Kathryn Wicks, The Sydney Morning Herald