Fairfax Media’s Adele Ferguson and the Four Corners team of Deb Masters and Mario Christodoulou have won Australian journalism’s top honour – the Gold Walkley Award – for their courageous and extraordinary work in uncovering unconscionable banking practices among some of our biggest banks.

“Banking bad” is the culmination of two years of vigorous investigation by Ferguson, who this year took her investigation to a wider audience with the compelling Four Corners report. Her research exposed the impact of highly risky advice on the individuals who trusted their financial affairs to the Commonwealth Bank, and also uncovered the failure of corporate regulator ASIC to respond to the concerns of whistle blowers inside the nation’s largest financial institution

The Walkley judges said: “Financial stories aren’t traditionally photogenic, but the team has elevated business journalism by capturing the human side and through dogged investigation.”

Taking out the Walkley for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism, Peter Greste was recognised for his courageous and ongoing fight, not only for his personal freedom, but also for a free press and an open democracy in the most difficult of circumstances.

The Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year Award went to Andrew Quilty for a compelling and moving portfolio of local and international photojournalism. Quilty also took out Nikon-Walkley Photo of the Year.

The West Australian’s Editor-in-Chief, Bob Cronin, was awarded the Walkley Award for Journalism Leadership for the outspoken and uncompromising leadership that has marked his 54-year career. He was praised by peers for his unflinching loyalty to his staff when standing up to mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.

The 59th Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism were presented in 34 categories.
More than 800 journalists and media identities gathered at Sydney’s Dockside Pavilion for the gala event hosted the ABC’s Sarah Ferguson.

PRINT/TEXT NEWS REPORT

Paul Maley and Greg Bearup, The Australian: “That’s my boy: kids witness war’s horror”, “Plotter’s nephew in Syrian combat”, “Aussie fighters leading extremist PR: ASIO”

ALL MEDIA SOCIAL EQUITY JOURNALISM

Belinda Hawkins, Australian Story, ABC TV: “Searching for C11, Parts One and Two”, “Breaking the Code”

ALL MEDIA MULTIMEDIA STORYTELLING

SBS Online Team, SBS Online: “Cronulla Riots – The day that shocked the nation”

NIKON-WALKLEY PHOTO OF THE YEAR

Andrew Quilty, TIME LightBox: “Baby burns victim in Boost Hospital”

ALL MEDIA HEADLINE JOURNALISM

Paul Whittaker, The Daily Telegraph: “Cardinal spin”, “The Grapes of Bof”, “Palmersnorus”

ALL MEDIA COVERAGE OF INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

Paul Daley, Guardian Australia: “Why does the Australian War Memorial ignore frontier war?”, “The bone collectors”, “Indigenous Australians in wartime”

ALL MEDIA COVERAGE OF COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS

Ben Smee, NT News: “Chasing the circus: A year of chaos and scandal in Territory politics”

ALL MEDIA SPORTS JOURNALISM

Robert Dillon, Newcastle Herald: ““Bye Bye Boganaire”

SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY

Cameron Spencer, Getty Images: “H20 Action”

RADIO NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS JOURNALISM

Hayden Cooper, ABC Radio: “Journalism on trial”

RADIO DOCUMENTARY, FEATURE, PODCAST OR SPECIAL

Sarah Dingle, AM and Background Briefing, ABC Radio: “The Salvos: A matter of trust”

FEATURE WRITING LONG (OVER 4000 WORDS)

Paul Toohey, Quarterly Essay 53: “That Sinking Feeling: Asylum seekers and the search for the Indonesian solution”

ALL MEDIA SCOOP OF THE YEAR

Michael Brissenden, Ewen MacAskill and Lenore Taylor, ABC News and Guardian Australia: “Australia’s spy agencies targeted Indonesian president’s mobile phone”

ALL MEDIA CARTOON

Ron Tandberg, The Age: “Joe’s budget”

ALL MEDIA ARTWORK

Eric Lobbecke, The Australian: “Chopper Hockey”

ALL MEDIA COVERAGE OF A MAJOR NEWS EVENT OR ISSUE

Matt Brown, Hayden Cooper, Aaron Hollett, Stuart Watt, Michael Carey and ABC News Team, ABC News Digital, ABC TV News and ABC Radio: “Gaza Conflict”

FEATURE WRITING SHORT (UNDER 4000 WORDS)

Ruth Pollard, Fairfax Media: “If this happened in Europe, the world would not be silent”

NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY

Brendan Beirne, News Corp Australia: “Bondi Biffo”

ALL MEDIA BUSINESS JOURNALISM

Nabila Ahmed, Sue Mitchell and James Chessell, The Australian Financial Review: “Myer, DJs Merger proposed just before directors’ trade”, “DJs chairman must step down”, “Mason to purge DJs board”

FEATURE/PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY

Eddie Jim, The Age: “Hayden”

ALL MEDIA INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM

Lindsay Murdoch, The Age: “Baby Gammy was left behind”

ALL MEDIA CAMERAWORK

Wayne McAllister, ABC News and Foreign Correspondent, ABC TV: “Laksi violent protest”, “Spratley Islands: reef madness” “Ukraine crash site fight”

TV/AV NEWS REPORTING

Matt Brown and Mark Solomons, ABC News: “Syria death”, “Jihad middleman”, “Bomber video”

TV/AV DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker and Sam Clark, 7.30, ABC TV: “State of the union”, “Jobs for the boys”

TV/AV WEEKLY CURRENT AFFAIRS

Adele Ferguson, Deb Masters and Mario Christodoulou, Four Corners, ABC TV and Fairfax Media: “Banking bad”

ALL MEDIA INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

John Lyons, Janine Cohen, Sylvie Le Clezio and Mary Fallon, Four Corners, ABC TV, and The Australian: “Stone cold justice”

ALL MEDIA INTERVIEW

David Speers, Sky News: “What is metadata?”

ALL MEDIA COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS, OPINION AND CRITIQUE

Waleed Aly, Fairfax Media: “Brandis race hate laws are whiter than white”, “The logic of PNG policy is sanctioned horror”, “Deciding which deaths matter and which don’t”

WALKLEY DOCUMENTARY AWARD

Dan Goldberg and Danny Ben-Moshe, Mint Pictures & Identity Films/ABC TV: Code of Silence

WALKLEY BOOK AWARD

Paul Kelly, Triumph and Demise: The Broken Promise of a Labor Generation, Melbourne University Press

NIKON-WALKLEY PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

Andrew Quilty, Oculi

LEADERSHIP

Bob Cronin, West Australian

MOST OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO JOURNALISM

Peter Greste

GOLD WALKLEY

Adele Ferguson, Deb Masters and Mario Christodoulou, Four Corners, ABC TV and Fairfax Media, “Banking bad”