07-finalists
Sir Keith Murdoch Award Journalism
Back to TopColleen Egan, The Sunday Times, Perth, whose eight-year investigation into the wrongful jailing of Andrew Mallard for murder led to his release and exoneration last year. Colleen then broke new ground for Sunday newspaper journalism by using her daily blog on the paper’s website, PerthNow, to break further news and provide rich coverage of the resulting Corruption and Crime Commission inquiry. (winner)
Back to TopTony Koch, The Australian, whose reporting of the events surrounding the death of Cameron Doomagee on Palm Island led to the first-ever charges being laid over an Aboriginal death in custody. Tony’s investigation prompted a Queensland Government commitment that all future deaths in custody would be treated as crime scenes and investigated by independent authorities.
Back to TopHedley Thomas, The Australian, whose dogged investigation exposed the lack of evidence against Dr Mohammed Haneef, accused of aiding terrorists. Hedley’s work led to charges against Haneef being dropped and a political row between the Federal Government, the Australian Federal Police commissioner and the Commonwealth DPP over the standard of evidence.
Newspaper of the year
Back to TopThe Australian is a finalist for the third year in a row. It consistently breaks news of national and international significance with excellent journalism in all areas. (winner)
Back to TopThe Daily Telegraph Sydney’s leading daily has proved a regular news breaker and strong campaigner while Confidential and other innovations keep it topical and relevant.
Back to TopGeelong Advertiser has achieved brilliant circulation results by understanding its readership and delivering nimble and innovative ideas to keep it essential regional reading.
Back to TopSunday Magazine: A brilliantly-crafted revamp has provided longer feature reads, more varied content and the introduction of new columnists. This has produced results in spades: increased revenue of almost 20 per cent
Magazine of the year
Back to TopDelicious: Great design, top photography and recipes people can cook have made this deservedly the top-selling glossy food magazine in Australia – and the world is noticing. The magazine has been taken up in the UK and The Netherlands, and publishers in India, Russia and France want to do the same.
Back to TopQWeekend: has quickly established a strong personality with innovative journalism and entertaining columnists, boosting readership of its host paper, The Courier- Mail. It’s also a business success: revenue has risen almost 40 per cent in two years. (winner)
Website of the year
Back to TopThe Courier Mail: couriermail.com.au has embraced multi-media and is offering creative and interactive content that attracts visitors and keeps them browsing. User participation of reader response sections is very high. (winner)
Back to TopThe Daily Telegraph: dailytelegraph.com.au has become a major news-breaking website, delivering news and information with style, personality and attitude. Readers have noticed, with unique visitor numbers up very strongly on last year.
Back to TopPerthNow: perthnow.com.au has demonstrated how to launch and build a new brand and carve out market leadership without being able to direct traffic to the site every day like its competitor. The website complements its stablemate The Sunday Times, but stands alone six days a week giving News a 7-day presence in the only major market where News doesn’t publish a daily.
Chairmans Awards
Back to TopMichael Harvey and Gerard McManus, Herald Sun, for their tenacity and skill in breaking a major story and their courage and integrity in staring down the threat of jail as they refused to reveal the identity of their sources. (winner)
Back to TopMatthew Pinkney, Herald Sun, whose passion for online fantasy sports from overseas led to him volunteering to conceive and deliver SuperCoach for his paper’s website. It’s been a runaway success with more than 150,000 registered players and page impressions doubling this year to 50 million.
Young Journalists of the Year
Back to TopDan Box, The Australian, who revealed the secret findings of the military Board of Inquiry into the shooting death of Private Jake Kovco.
Back to TopRichard Kerbaj, The Australian, for his ground-breaking work in reporting of Muslim affairs, including a string of scoops which led to the downfall of the Mufti of Australia, Sheik Hilali. (winner)
Back to TopJames Phelps, The Daily Telegraph, who with little more than 12 months’ experience as a cadet has secured a range of exclusives, including an interview with the mystery woman Ian Thorpe said had convinced him to quit.
Scoop of the Year
Back to TopMichael Beach and Viva Goldner, The Daily Telegraph, who took a two-minute court case about a $77 speeding fine and unravelled it to reveal a scandal which led ultimately to a series of criminal charges against Justice Marcus Einfeld. (winner)
Back to TopMarnie O’Neill, The Sunday Telegraph, for her revelations of a Qantas stewardess’ on-board tryst with British actor Ralph Fiennes. Working from only an anonymous tip-off, Marnie’s work in confirming and delivering her world scoop was exemplary.
Back to TopBen Packham and Gerard McManus, Herald Sun, for their exposure that a company owned by Kevin Rudd’s wife Therese Rein had put workers on individual contracts that removed key award conditions. The story led to Rein selling her Australian business to avoid a conflict of interest that could damage Rudd’s political career.
Best News Direction
Back to TopMichael Beach and Nicolette Casella, The Daily Telegraph, for nimble direction that ensured The Daily Telegraph continued to break news in each twist and turn of the long-running Marcus Einfeld affair.
Back to TopShane Burke, Herald Sun, for his direction of fast-breaking news coverage of the Kerang rail disaster and a late-night international arrest, requiring major changes between editions. (winner)
Back to TopGeoff Stead, The Sunday Mail, for his challenge to come up with a new way to showcase the list of Queensland’s 100 wealthiest – it engaged readers so much that the 32-page colour lift-out boosted circulation by an unprecedented 23,000 copies.
Campaign of the Year
Back to TopLeonie Johnson and Liz McKinnon, Townsville Bulletin, for their ultimately successful campaign targeting the State and Federal Governments to flood-proof the Bruce Highway, a vital artery for the region.
Back to TopJanet Fife-Yeomans, Lisa Davies, Michelle Cazzulino & Nicolette Casella, The Daily Telegraph, whose powerful series of articles under the Justice for Women banner sought – and won – key legal reforms for rape victims.
Back to TopDamon Johnston, Katie Bice, Mark Buttler & Norrie Ross, Herald Sun, for their persistent campaign to highlight sentencing inconsistencies for child killers. Their work led to an increased sentence for one killer, and action from the State Government to make child killing a specific offence. (winner)
Features Journalist of the Year
Back to TopTrent Dalton, The Courier Mail, for his ability to weave personal experience and humour into beautifully-crafted features. His moving narration of how the death of a son through senseless violence changed the life of his father is a fine example.
Back to TopNicolas Rothwell, The Australian, for his portfolio of reports from the Northern Territory, including a front line account of the tragic scenes confronting authorities in remote Aboriginal communities as the federal government began its intervention.
Back to TopCameron Stewart, The Australian, whose eloquent and varied articles deliver human stories with intelligence and understanding, including the first interview with the former wife of Melbourne gangland killer Carl Williams and a moving insight into the tormented lives of the children of Reg Ansett. (winner)
Specialist Writer of the Year
Back to TopHeath Aston, The Daily Telegraph, for a body of work including a front page report that proved that Sydney’s train system lagged every other major city in the world for punctuality, customer service and maintenance.
Back to TopJohn Flint, The Sunday Times, whose reports exposed the bureaucratic bungling at the heart of the lead contamination scandal in West Australia. His expose provided a road map of issues for the subsequent parliamentary inquiry to explore.
Business Journalist of the Year
Back to TopJennifer Hewett, The Australian, for her expert business and political analysis and her success in engaging readers who don’t normally follow the business pages, as well as the corporate players themselves.
Back to TopAnthony Klan, The Australian, who led the paper’s news breaking coverage of the Fincorp collapse. Through determination and persistent leg work Anthony regularly breaks news, pushing finance stories onto page one of the general paper. (winner)
Back to TopNick Tabakoff, The Australian, for his comprehensive coverage of the media sector, particularly his exclusive reports on the break up of the Packer PBL empire.
Sports Journalist of the Year
Back to TopJosh Massoud, The Daily Telegraph, for a series of exclusives with a news edge, including convincing Zdravko Micevic, the bouncer acquitted of killing David Hookes, to break his three-year silence.
Back to TopDavid Riccio, The Sunday Telegraph, who exposed a player in the New Zealand tri-nations rugby league team who was not eligible to represent the country under the code’s international laws, resulting in the Kiwis forfeiting their competition points. (winner)
Back to TopPatrick Smith, The Australian, for a portfolio of stories ranging from provocative AFL reporting to spring racing, resplendent with rich analysis and commentary.
Sub-editor of the Year
Back to TopAlan Burrows, Gold Coast Bulletin, for a series of quirky and amusing headlines, including "Pombardment Starts" to signal the arrival of England’s Barmy Army.
Back to TopBrett de Vine, Sydney mX, for his spot-on splash heads, including “Six Degrees of Perspiration,” for a story about poor air-conditioning on Sydney trains making them six degrees hotter than they should be. (winner)
Back to TopGeoff Shearer, The Courier-Mail, whose engaging heads included "Hokey Pokey Pipeline" about the ridiculous cost and effort of laying, digging up and re-laying a recycled water pipeline.
Back to TopSally Paine, Australian Good Taste, whose witty headlines drag readers into the magazine's sections and recipes. Who could resist "To stir, with love" over a column on the dedication of the home cook.
Photographer of the Year
Back to TopCraig Borrow, Herald Sun, for a diverse portfolio, ranging from a world exclusive photo of David Coulthard catapulting over a rival in the Australian Grand Prix, to a moving photo of a young boy who lost his eyes to a rare form of cancer. (winner)
Back to TopAlex Coppel, Sunday Herald Sun, whose versatility ranges from using split-second timing to capture dramatic shots from the Melbourne air show, to eye-catching images of Shaolin monks leaping above the Melbourne skyline.
Back to TopJay Town, Herald Sun, whose portfolio ranged from the emotional, with Victorian premier at a service for Kerang train crash victims, to the quirky – a real guide dog among a group of plastic collection boxes.
Photograph of the Year
Back to TopAndrew Batsch, Mornington Peninsula Leader, who captured every aspect of a storm’s fury in one telling picture of a disabled man defying the elements.
Back to TopPhil Hillyard, The Daily Telegraph, whose photo of Sydney Swans player Michael O’Loughlin’s reaction to West Coast Eagles fans after kicking the winning goal forces you to examine every spectator in the frame. (winner)
Back to TopNathan Richter, The Sunday Mail, Brisbane, who went to great lengths to capture the definitive image of terrorist suspect Dr Mohamed Haneef after his release from detention in Brisbane.
Artist of the Year
Back to TopMark Knight, Herald Sun, whose portfolio shows cartooning talents that go far beyond artistic commentary of our political scene. His Melbourne ’56 Olympics souvenir wrap and his annual calendar add yet more value to readers. (winner)
Back to TopBill Leak, The Australian, who lifts cartooning to an art form, with cutting political commentary while still providing readers with a cartoon’s most essential ingredient – a good laugh.
Back to TopEric Lobbecke, The Daily Telegraph, for his ability to find a quirky angle to illustrate even the most serious of stories, such as his depiction of Kevin Rudd as Gollum from Lord of the Rings.
Designer of the Year
Back to TopMatt Pike, AdelaideNow.com.au, whose interactive features include an Anzac Day special based on the diary of his great grandfather, Sgt Rupert Thomas James Baldwin, a WWI digger. (winner)
Back to TopJacqui Porter, Vogue Entertainment + Travel, for innovative magazine design and concepts that take food and travel presentation to another level.
Back to TopJustin van Rossum, Geelong Advertiser, for an impressive portfolio of design work that included posters, liftouts and magazines that have contributed considerably to the Geelong Advertiser’s circulation gains.
- June 25News Awards open to entries
- July 28 to August 4Deadlines for entries
- Week-ending September 10Semi-finalists announced
- Week-ending October 8Finalists announced
- October 29News Awards ceremony. Winners announced
