The Brisbane Times has picked up the award for best online journalism at the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) Clarion Awards for journalism excellence.
The masthead won the award from a strong field of finalists including The Australian (for “Cinderella Man”), ABC (for “The Crocodile Removalists”) and the Courier Mail (For “Catching the Devil”).
The Brisbane Times-created “House of Power” allowed politicians to pitch for Queenslanders’ votes prior to last year’s Federal Election. More than 1,000 readers packed out the Brisbane Powerhouse, utilising three theatres simultaneously in order to cover seven of the state’s most interesting electorates.
During the ‘House of Power’, Brisbane Times journalists moderated important debates and ensured key points from those debates went to readers via a live blog. One politician credited his debate as the main factor influencing the result in his electorate.
“Brisbane Live” was pioneered in Brisbane and features rolling coverage of the news as it happens. The Cowanand Baden-Clay murder trials featured live coverage, with the Baden-Clay coverage turned into the Brisbane Times’ first eBook
“It’s great credit to our talented team at the Brisbane Times to be recognised with this award and demonstrates the quality and innovation of our online reporting. Our interactive journalism and the way we were able to involve our audience in what we do is testament to a true team effort,” said Simon Holt, Brisbane Times editor-in-chief.
The Clarion judges said that the best online journalism category was incredibly strong with many notable entries showcasing a broad range of online journalism techniques that made it difficult to judge.
“The Brisbane Times team entry demonstrates excellent use of online immediacy to deliver rolling news coverage to the audience. The team incorporates multimedia well and shows strong audience engagement through material sourced from the audience and on the ground reporters,” the judges commented.
