Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon have taken out the top gong at this year’s Walkley Awards for their coverage of the Lawyer X scandal for the Herald Sun.

The story explained how lawyer Nicola Gobbo was recruited by Victoria Police to inform on clients and exposed the legal implications that followed.

It was the journalists ongoing commitment to the story that ultimately secured the Gold Walkley, the judges said.

“In its scale, its scope and its ongoing impact, ‘Lawyer X Informer Scandal’ is an act of journalistic persistence that has changed Australia,” the judges said. “That’s what a Gold Walkley is all about.”

In other categories:

• Chris McGrath from Getty Images was named the Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year for a timely, dynamic and powerful body of work spanning Turkey, Syria, Kosovo and Hong Kong.
• Leigh Sales’ Any Ordinary Day (Penguin Random House Australia) won the Walkley Book Award. 
• Stan Grant’s film about Adam Goodes, The Australian Dream (GoodThing Productions, Passion Pictures UK and ABC), was named the winner of the Walkley Documentary Award.
• Sue Spencer was given the senior award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism in recognition of her seven years as executive producer ABC Four Corners, which was recognised with 14 Walkley Awards, including three Golds.

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

“At a time when our profession is under threat from upended business models, legislative overreach and those who are very deliberately seeking to de-legitimise our work, it is more important than ever to promote and celebrate the very best of what we do. We all know that a Walkley Award is the measure of Australian journalistic excellence. Congratulations to all this year’s winners.”