Walkley Awards
Mark Willacy and the ABC Investigations-Four Corners Team have won Australian journalism’s highest honour, the Gold Walkley, for their six-month-long investigation “Killing Field”.
The program, which also won the Walkley Award for Investigative Journalism, exposed alleged war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.
Attempts to report on allegations of war crimes encounter extreme obstacles, yet Mark Willacy and the ABC Team’s unflinching investigations continue to expose suspected cover-ups and deep cultural problems within Australia’s special forces.
The judges were impressed by Willacy’s compelling and brilliant investigation, which included shocking helmet-camera footage of special forces in action on the ground, sharp scripting and probing interviews.
Matthew Abbott was named the Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year for his work covering the Summer Bushfires and Covid-19. Lucie Morris-Marr’s Fallen (Allen & Unwin) won the Walkley Book Award. Sarah Ferguson, Nial Fulton and Tony Jones’ haunting documentary Revelation (ABC and InFilms) won the Walkley Documentary Award.
The award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism went to Ross Gittins, for his 40-year commitment to making economics and public policy not only accessible but a must read. He was also honoured for his dedication to mentoring many generations of journalists.
The 65th Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism were presented in 30 categories.
The chief executive of the Walkley Foundation, Louisa Graham, said: “The Walkley Foundation has a great deal to be proud of. The challenges of the last year have shown us that journalism is critical to keeping Australians accurately informed; this year’s list of finalists and winners is a testament to the outstanding journalism that is so critical to our democratic process. The Foundation remains strong and stable, enabling us to deliver on our mission to support and celebrate great Australian journalism.”
The chair of the Walkley Judging Board, Lenore Taylor, praised the range and depth of this year’s winners.
“During last summer’s fires factual information at times made the difference between life and death,” she said. “Likewise, facts have been the most important tool for limiting the spread of the coronavirus, and our audiences have had a seemingly insatiable thirst for information. It was the role of journalists to go out and bring us reliable information – because facts are what we do.
“I am always heartened, if slightly overwhelmed, when I see the array of excellent reporting and writing in contention for a Walkley Award – and the journalistic skill and determination evident in every entry.”
2020 Walkley Award Winners
PRINT/TEXT: NEWS REPORT
Award Partner Media Super
Jacqueline Maley and Kate McClymont, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, “‘Dirty Dyson’: A harasser on the High Court”
PUBLIC SERVICE JOURNALISM
Award Partner Sydney Airport
Nina Funnell, Kerry Warren and Lori Youmshajekian, news.com.au, The Herald Sun, NT News and The Mercury, “#LetUsSpeak: Victoria blocks sexual assault victims from using real names”, “Give Rape Survivors a Voice” and “Gang rape victim becomes first Tasmanian to speak out following gag law reform”
INNOVATION
Award Partner Google News Initiative
Dylan Welch, Alexander Palmer, Clare Blumer and Suzanne Dredge, ABC, “Anatomy of a suicide bombing”
HEADLINE, CAPTION OR HOOK
Award Partner Qantas
Anthony De Ceglie, The West Australian, “The Royal Formerly Known As Prince,” “Bridget Over Troubled Rorters” and “You Had One JobKeeper”
PRINT/TEXT: FEATURE WRITING LONG (OVER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner UQ
Russell Jackson, ABC, “The Persecution of Robert Muir”
PRINT/TEXT: FEATURE WRITING SHORT (UNDER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age
Liam Mannix, The Age, “The Perfect Virus: Two gene tweaks that turned COVID-19 into a killer”
COVERAGE OF INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS
Award Partner PwC Indigenous Consulting
Calla Wahlquist and Lorena Allam, Guardian Australia, “Rio Tinto explodes Juukan Gorge, and BHP’s 24-hour backdown”
COVERAGE OF COMMUNITY OR REGIONAL AFFAIRS
Award Partner BHP
Matthew Kelly, Helen Gregory, Anita Beaumont and Donna Page, Newcastle Herald, “Your Right to Know”
CARTOON
David Rowe, The Australian Financial Review, “Thoughts and Prayers”
SPORTS JOURNALISM
Jessica Halloran and Julian Linden, The Australian and The Daily Telegraph, “On Thin Ice: Katia’s story”
SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY
Award Partner Nikon
Sam Ruttyn, The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, “UFC 243”
RADIO/AUDIO: NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS
Award Partner ABC
Dr Norman Swan, Tegan Taylor and Will Ockenden, ABC, “Coronacast”
RADIO/AUDIO: FEATURE
Rachael Brown, Josie Taylor, Tim Roxburgh, Marty Peralta and Trace Team, ABC, “Trace: The Informer”
PRODUCTION
Award Partner Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas
Four Corners Team, Four Corners, ABC, “Black Summer”
SCOOP OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nine News
Samantha Maiden, The New Daily, “Hawaii Two-O: Scott Morrison’s bushfire holiday”
COVERAGE OF A MAJOR NEWS EVENT OR ISSUE
Award Partner Facebook
ABC News and ABC Regional and Local Team, ABC, “ABC Bushfire Coverage”
NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY
Award Partner Nikon
Matthew Abbott, The New York Times and Oculi, “A kangaroo rushes past a burning house in Lake Conjola”
BUSINESS JOURNALISM
Award Partner ING
Michael Roddan, The Australian Financial Review, “#AMPToo – sexual harassment at AMP”
FEATURE/PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY
Award Partner Nikon
Nick Moir, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Firestorm”
TELEVISION/VIDEO: CAMERAWORK
Award Partner Australian Super
Adam Bovino, Today and Nine News, Nine, “George Floyd Protests”
TELEVISION/VIDEO: NEWS REPORTING
Award Partner Seven
Amelia Brace and Tim Myers, Sunrise, Seven News and The Latest, Seven Network, “Beat the Press: Journalism Under Attack”
TELEVISION/VIDEO: CURRENT AFFAIRS SHORT (LESS THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner SBS
Marc Fennell, Ninah Kopel and Joel Stillone, The Feed, SBS, “Stuffed: Inside Australia’s Biggest Museum Heist”
TELEVISION/VIDEO: CURRENT AFFAIRS LONG (MORE THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner TEN
Nick McKenzie, Joel Tozer and Sumeyya Ilanbey, 60 Minutes, Nine, “The Faceless Man”
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Mark Willacy and the ABC Investigations-Four Corners Team, Four Corners, ABC, “Killing Field”
COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS, OPINION AND CRITIQUE
Tony Wright, The Age, “You learn a bit working on a local paper. It’s all about the people,” “The tragedy of Mary and William, and a federation in chaos again” and “The vaccines that saved the rock ‘n’ roll generation, and many more”
WALKLEY DOCUMENTARY AWARD
Award Partner NSW Government
Sarah Ferguson, Nial Fulton and Tony Jones, ABC and In Films, Revelation
WALKLEY BOOK AWARD
Lucie Morris-Marr, Fallen, Allen & Unwin
NIKON-WALKLEY PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nikon
Matthew Abbott, The New York Times and Oculi
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO JOURNALISM
Award Partner News Corp Australia
Ross Gittins, The Sydney Morning Herald
GOLD WALKLEY
Mark Willacy and the ABC Investigations-Four Corners Team, Four Corners, ABC, “Killing Field”
The 2020 Walkley Judging Board were:
Chair: Lenore Taylor, editor, Guardian Australia
Deputy Chair: Claire Harvey, editorial director, The Australian
Natalie Ahmat, presenter/producer, NITV News
Michael Bachelard, investigations editor, The Age
Michael Brissenden, reporter, Four Corners, ABC
Patricia Karvelas, presenter, ABC Radio National Drive (abstained from judging in 2020)
Mags King, managing photographic editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review
Deborah Knight, presenter, 2GB
Stella Lauri, network news director, WIN Television
John Lehmann, commercial director and managing editor, The Australian
Hamish Macdonald, host, Q&A, ABC
Mark Mallabone, deputy editor, The West Australian
Heidi Murphy, senior producer, Mornings with Neil Mitchell, 3AW693 (abstained from judging in 2020)
Bhakthi Puvanenthiran, editor, ABC Life
Tory Shepherd, columnist, The Advertiser