Check out last year’s winners here.

A deep and sustained investigation, years in the making, Dowsley and Carlyon produced the definitive explanation of a scandal that recast Melbourne’s gangland wars: how lawyer Nicola Gobbo was recruited by Victoria Police to inform on clients. The investigation exposed an unprecedented legal scandal that triggered an inquiry and continues to have serious implications. Gobbo’s alias, “Lawyer X”, is now a byword for the secret abuse of power. The story also won the Investigative Journalism and Coverage of a Major News Event or Issue categories.

The judges were impressed by Dowsley and Carlyon’s dogged pursuit of the story and the Herald Sun’s commitment to it, saying: “In its scale, its scope and its ongoing impact, ‘Lawyer X Informer Scandal’ is an act of journalistic persistence that has changed Australia. That’s what a Gold Walkley is all about.”

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.

The senior award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism went to Sue Spencer, pioneering producer, documentary-maker and mentor who has made it her mission to speak truth to power. Spencer would never seek out the limelight, but her seven years as executive producer ABC Four Corners was a golden period of investigative journalism, recognised with 14 Walkley Awards, including three Golds.

The 64th Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism were presented in 30 categories. 800 journalists and media identities gathered at the International Convention Centre Sydney for the gala event, with the support of the NSW Government.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian paid tribute to this year’s finalists and winners.

“In the age of 24/7 media and mass consumption, institutions like the Walkley Awards are more important than ever to remind us of the importance of timely information and the public interest,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“Every nominee has thrived in 2019, bringing their audience something unique. The words you wrote, story you presented or photographs you captured have been powerful to the viewer or reader. You have inspired, entertained and informed.”

Premier Berejiklian also announced the 65th Walkley Awards gala dinner will be hosted in Tamworth in November 2020, as part of the NSW Government’s two-year partnership with the Walkleys.

Chair of the Walkley Judging Board, 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.”

2019 Walkley Awards Category Winners

PRINT/TEXT NEWS REPORT
Award Partner Media Super
Michael Koziol and Jennifer Duke, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Guthrie ordered to sack top ABC reporter”, “ABC chair’s ‘bias’ email” and “Revealed: ABC boss’ secret dossier” 

PUBLIC SERVICE JOURNALISM
Anne Connolly, Mary Fallon and Patricia Drum, Four Corners, ABC TV and ABC Digital, “Who Cares?”

INNOVATION
Mark Doman and ABC News Digital Team, abc.net.au, “Satellite storytelling”

HEADLINE, CAPTION OR HOOK
Award Partner Qantas 
Baz McAlister, The Courier-Mail, “Time to Haul Ass”, “Give ‘Em a Finch and They’ll Take a Mine” “Halal… Is it Meals You’re Sooking For”

FEATURE WRITING LONG (OVER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner UQ
Sam Vincent, The Monthly, “A Nagging Doubt: The Retrial of David Eastman” 

FEATURE WRITING SHORT (UNDER 4000 WORDS)
Award Partner The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age
Mick Barnes, Good Weekend, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Counting down the days in God’s waiting room”

COVERAGE OF INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS
Award Partner PwC Indigenous Consulting
Lorena Allam, Guardian Australia Team and the University of Newcastle’s Colonial Frontier Massacres Project, Guardian Australia, “The Killing Times” 

COVERAGE OF COMMUNITY OR REGIONAL AFFAIRS
Award Partner BHP 
Donna Page and Nick Bielby, Newcastle Herald, “Dirty Deeds”

CARTOON
Pat Campbell, The Canberra Times, “Christchurch Fern” 

SPORTS JOURNALISM
Malcolm Knox and Nigel Gladstone, The Sun-Herald, “Caught Out: Cricket’s Inflated Player Numbers Revealed” 

SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY
Award Partner Nikon
Craig Golding, AAP, “Invictus Games 2018”

RADIO/AUDIO NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS
Award Partner ABC
Adam Harvey, AM, ABC, “The Survivors of ISIS”

RADIO/AUDIO FEATURE
Kirsti Melville, Earshot, ABC Radio National, “The Ghosts of Wittenoom”

PRODUCTION
Award Partner Google News Initiative
Fadzil Hamzah, The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, “The Ibrahim Tapes”

SCOOP OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nine News
Al Jazeera Investigations Unit, Al Jazeera Media Network, “How to Sell a Massacre” 

COVERAGE OF A MAJOR NEWS EVENT OR ISSUE
Award Partner Facebook
Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon, Herald Sun, “Lawyer X Informer Scandal” 

NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY
Award Partner Nikon
Matt Roberts, ABC, “The Second Coming of Senator Lambie”

BUSINESS JOURNALISM
Award Partner ING
Nick McKenzie, Nick Toscano and Grace Tobin, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes, Nine, “Crown Unmasked” 

FEATURE/PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY
Award Partner Nikon
Chris McGrath, Getty Images, “The End of the Caliphate” 

TELEVISION/VIDEO: CAMERAWORK
Award Partner Australian Super
Paul Walker, Seven News, Seven Network, “Sydney Stabbing”

TELEVISION/VIDEO: NEWS REPORTING
Award Partner Seven
Seven News Sydney Team, Seven News Sydney, “Sydney Stabbing Rampage”

TELEVISION/VIDEO CURRENT AFFAIRS SHORT (LESS THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner SBS
Ali Rae, Al Jazeera English “All Hail The Algorithm”

TELEVISION/VIDEO CURRENT AFFAIRS LONG (MORE THAN 20 MINUTES)
Award Partner TEN
Suzanne Dredge, Dylan Welch, David Maguire and Janine Cohen, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Orphans of ISIS”

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Award Partner Bayer
Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon, Herald Sun, “Lawyer X Informer Scandal” 

COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS, OPINION AND CRITIQUE
Award Partner Bond University
Jan Fran, The Feed, SBSVICELAND and associated social media channels, “The Frant” 

WALKLEY DOCUMENTARY AWARD
The Australian Dream, Stan Grant, GoodThing Productions, Passion Pictures UK and ABC

WALKLEY BOOK AWARD
Leigh Sales, Any Ordinary Day, Penguin Random House Australia

NIKON-WALKLEY PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
Award Partner Nikon
Chris McGrath, Getty Images

MOST OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO JOURNALISM
Award Partner News Corp Australia
Sue Spencer

GOLD WALKLEY
Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon, Herald Sun, “Lawyer X Informer Scandal”

Chair: Lenore Taylor, editor, Guardian Australia
Deputy Chair: Claire Harvey, deputy editor, The Sunday Telegraph
Natalie Ahmat, presenter/producer, NITV News
Michael Bachelard, investigations editor, The Age (abstained from 2019 judging)
Michael Brissenden, reporter, Four Corners, ABC
Mags King, managing photographic editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review
Deborah Knight, news presenter, Nine
Stella Lauri, network news director, WIN Television
John Lehmann, editor, The Australian
Hamish Macdonald, host, The Project, Network 10
Mark Mallabone, deputy editor, The West Australian
Heidi Murphy, senior producer, Mornings with Neil Mitchell, 3AW693
Patricia Karvelas, presenter, ABC Radio National Drive
Bhakthi Puvanenthiran, editor, ABC Life
Tory Shepherd, state editor, The Advertiser

With over 400,000 paying customers at $25 a month, the streaming sports service is generating annual revenues well over $120m for the Foxtel business.

In the year over 65 million hours of sports content was streamed across more than 50 sports, including every round of AFL and NRL, the Cricket World Cup, Test Cricket plus BBL and WBBL, as well as the FIBA World Cup and the Rugby World Cup.

During the 12 months, Kayo streamed 16,200 live events across 57 sports and more than 200 different series highlighted by 281 live events and 700 live hours across one weekend (5-8 April 2019).

Customers watch on average seven sports and stream nearly six hours each week with 58 per cent of their viewing on the big screen.

Looking at streaming by state, New South Wales was just in front with a combined 19,203,431 hours streamed with NRL and cricket the most popular sports, followed closely by Victoria with [19,039,377] hours where AFL and cricket topped the list, and Queensland with [12,395,050] hours with NRL and cricket the top streamed sports.

Kayo was last week recognised globally with the ‘Best User Experience’ Award at SportsPro’s OTT Awards in Madrid.

Kayo Sports CEO Julian Ogrin said: “The launch of Kayo 12 months ago was the ‘big bang’ for sports streaming – we have more sport than any other streaming service in the world. Turning one year old is a great moment to step back and look at how Australian’s consume sports streaming.

“It’s not just the depth and breadth of the content, with 65 million hours streamed since launch, but the amount customers are consuming. One Kayo fan has streamed over 483,360 minutes of content while another has watched 4,450 videos.

“And whilst they are watching a stack of top-tier sports content, they are also enjoying the niche sports on offer with nearly 27,000 customers streaming ‘Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Contest’ and a similar number of people watching Chess Boxing.”

Kayo year one highlights:

• 99% of customers enjoy watching live and HD quality streaming on Kayo issue free, whether watching on the go with their mobile or the big screen TV.
• 92% of customers can completely self-serve. Of the number that require further help, approximately 40% are being managed through Kayo’s innovative AI automated support channel driving peaks of 95% self-service.
• A sub 10 second latency (time to transfer data from the live action to a user’s device) on web and a 3.46 second average join-time to viewing demonstrates Kayo’s world leading streaming quality.
• 29 concurrent streams delivered (7 September 2019).
• 65 million hours streamed since launch.
• New South Wales streamed the most hours of content [19,203,431] followed by Victoria [19,039,377] and Queensland [12,395,050].
• The biggest Kayo user was from New South Wales and streamed 483,360 minutes of content, followed by a fan in Victoria with 331,620 minutes streamed.
• 16,200 live events streamed since launch highlighted by 281 live events and 700 live hours streamed across one weekend (5-8 April 2019).
• 57 different sports and over 200 different series.
• Delivered over 1000 Kayo ‘Minis’ (a 25-30 minute highlights package following the live event).
• The most watched AFL games were [1] Richmond v Geelong (Preliminary Final); [2] Richmond v West Coast (Round 22); [3] Brisbane v Geelong (Round 22).
• The most watched NRL games were [1] Wests Tigers v Sharks (Round 25); [2] Roosters v Storm – (Preliminary Final); [3] Sea Eagles v Storm (Round 24).
• Other big sports audiences: [1] French Open Final – Barty v Vondrousova (most watched tennis match on Kayo); [2] French Open Semi Final: Barty v Anisimova; [3] AFLW Grand Final – Adelaide v Carlton; [4] WBBL Final – Sixers v Heat were the most watched women’s events.
• Nearly 27,000 customers watched Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Contest and a similar number [26,778] watched Chess Boxing.
• ESPN’s 30 for 30, Rodman: For Better or Worse was the most popular documentary.

Seventeen awards were presented at a black tie gala at the Hyatt Regency in Sydney with seven special digital covers revealed ahead of the special GQ Men of the Year issue going on sale on Monday December 2.

Some of the biggest international stars walked the GQ red carpet in Sydney including: GQ Woman of the Year Zendaya, recipient of The GQ Film Icon award Baz Luhrmann, GQ Model of the Year Alton Mason and GQ TV Actor of the Year Jacob Elordi.

The evening was hosted by comedian and TV presenter Joel Creasey and News Corp Australia’s MD of Prestige Titles, Nicholas Gray. Other guests from News Corp included executive chairman Michael Miller, editorial director Edwina McCann, delicious. editor-in-chief Kerrie McCallum, soon-to-depart sales chief Andrew Cook, commentator Melissa Hoyer and prestige titles director of communications Sharyn Whitten.

Other guests included a who’s who of Sydney media with international visitors including Stan’s Joanne Froggatt (who is holidaying for a week in Australia before returning to the UK) and Essie Davis, Nova 969’s Wippa and Tom Ivey, actor Daniel MacPherson who is home for Christmas, sports stars Adam Goodes (who’s doco won a Walkley last night) and Dylan Alcott, 10’s Angela Bishop and Tommy Little, news.com.au’s Andrew Bucklow. ARIA chief executive Dan Rosen was out again, looking fresh despite his ARIA Week commitments.

GQ Australia editor Michael Christensen said: “The GQ Men of the Year awards presented by Audi champion the men and women who have excelled in their fields, reaching dizzying new heights in everything they do. In their own unique way, they have all used their work and their platforms to raise greater awareness for what they’re passionate about, and together they’re the role models for today and tomorrow.

“Few have had a bigger 2019 than Jason Momoa, Zendaya, Winston Duke and Alton Mason. But for me the real privilege of hosting these awards lies in giving the likes of HoMie, Song for the Mute and Matt Stone the praise they so deserve; or the trust bestowed upon us by Dan Sultan to tell his story the right way. To crown Ash Barty Sportsperson of the Year is a huge highlight, so too is recognising the nuance and societal relevance in Scott Marsh’s artwork. It’s been a privilege to collaborate with the brightest Aussie stars of the future in Jacob Elordi, Chris Pang and the cast of True History of The Kelly Gang, but special mention is reserved for Baz Luhrmann, to whom we owe so much for Australia being the creative, expressive and forward thinking country it is.

“Congratulations to all our winners, and huge thanks to presenting partner Audi, and supporting partners Grey Goose Vodka, Paco Rabanne, Qantas, Coach New York and R.M.Williams.”

Audi Australia chief customer & marketing officer Nikki Warburton said: “Audi is proud to continue its support of the GQ Men of the Year Awards. It’s one of the most prominent celebrations of the diversity of innovation and excellence we have in Australia, and as a brand, we applaud all those who are recognised. Congratulations to all this year’s worthy winners.”

The annual GQ Men of the Year 2019 collector’s issue is on sale Monday 02 December 2019 starring GQ’s 2019 Man of the Year Jason Momoa on the cover and featuring exclusive interviews with the 2019 GQ Men of the Year award winners.

Winners of the 2019 GQ Men of the Year awards presented by Audi:

Matt Stone, GQ Chef of the Year presented by Grey Goose
True History of the Kelly Gang, GQ Ensemble of the Year
Scott Marsh, GQ Agenda Setter of the Year
Tommy Hilfiger, GQ Fashion Icon
Chris Pang, GQ Breakthrough Actor of the Year, presented by Grey Goose
Alton Mason, GQ Model of the Year, presented by Paco Rabanne
Dan Sultan, GQ Musician of the Year
Sipp Instant, Audi Innovation Award, presented by Audi
HoMie, GQ Social Force
Ash Barty, GQ Sportsperson of the Year
Song for the Mute, GQ Fashion Brand of the Year
Jacob Elordi, GQ TV Actor of the Year, presented by Qantas
David Pocock, GQ Special Editor’s Award, presented by R.M.Williams
Winston Duke, GQ Actor of the Year, presented by Coach New York
Jason Momoa, GQ Man of the Year, presented by Coach New York
Zendaya, GQ Woman of the Year, presented by Audi
Baz Luhrmann, GQ Film Icon, presented by Audi

—

Top Photo: GQ Men of the Year: Acting editor Jake Millar with editorial director Edwina McCann and departing editor Mike Christensen

As the former co-host of NITV’s The Point and Rewired, Johnston officially joins the channel as on-air talent in the role of science and technology editor, in addition to multi-platform reporting. Johnston told Mediaweek about her history in journalism, the importance of NITV, and more about her new role on the channel.

Johnston said she began her journalism career about 10 years ago when reporting on and reviewing video games for Fox 8’s Save Point. “From there, I started writing about gaming for print publications who had previously never covered the topic – like Cosmopolitan. I started a regular gaming column in Core Magazine and eventually wound up at Techlife as the lifestyle editor – covering gaming, social media, and consumer technology in both print and online video. 

“At the same time, I began making regular appearances on mainstream TV and radio shows like Today, The Project and triple j chatting video games and technology, which I continue to do to this day.”

In 2015, Johnston took on a journalist role at Gizmodo Australia with a focus on science and gaming. “Two years later, I was the editor. While at Gizmodo, I produced and hosted Static Podcast. In addition to Gizmodo, in 2016 I started regular tech and science segments on NITV’s The Point with Stan Grant, and in 2017 joined the show as a co-host. 

“That same year I also began regularly hosting SBS’s The Feed and Small Business Secrets. In 2018, I co-hosted That Startup Show alongside Ben Law, as well as NITV’s children’s science program, Rewired. Late last year, I joined the team at Junkee as editor, launching a brand new gaming vertical for the site and establishing its tech coverage.”

Johnston officially begins her new role at NITV on Monday December 2. “The best way to describe the vibe of the channel is ‘it’s like coming home to a big, fun, passionate and hard-working family.”

Johnston said when she began her career, there was a real lack of reporting around the positive benefits of technology, particularly in mainstream media. “Video games, especially, were scaremonger fodder and I wanted to see them treated like any other form of entertainment. As my career evolved, I became focused on increasing the visibility of underrepresented people in STEM industries, which continue to have shockingly low levels of diversity.

“NITV gives a platform for the voices that need to be heard, talking about the issues that directly impact on them,” said Johnston. “It is unique, authentic and essential viewing for all Australians.”

Johnston said she will have the opportunity to look at a story, and really consider how it is best told. “Is this a podcast series? An online article? A TV news package? I’ll have the ability to utilise the skills I’ve developed over the course of my career to bring it to life in a way that will have the most impact.”

The team at NITV includes news presenter/producer Natalie Ahmat (Mudburra & Maluyligal Nations), head of digital editorial Jack Latimore (Biripi – Northern NSW), and executive editor, Indigenous news and current affairs Rhanna Collins (Palawa – Eagle Hawk Neck).

“We have a truly stellar team of award-winning journalists at NITV, a real mix of industry veterans and new talent. They’re doing incredible, life-changing, award-winning work – and they inspire me every day.”

The near-death experience was the forgettable 2010 event on the steps of the Opera House that resembled the Eurovision green room.

ARIA CEO Dan Rosen

This year the ratings were down, but dipping FTA live audience numbers is a plague all brands and broadcasters suffer from and is no barometer of public acceptance.

The must-attend ARIA event now every year is the Chairman’s Cocktail Party in the Marquee nightclub prior to the Awards. This year guests who arrived during the afternoon got to see what was arguably the most important award of ARIA Week – promoter Michael Chugg being presented with the ARIA Icon Award.

Michael Chugg and Trevor Smith

ARIA chairman and Sony Music Entertainment CEO Denis Handlin always puts on a good pre-awards program and this year was no exception.

Handlin introduced the Icon Award formalities and had much to say about Chugg, with the rock promoter later accusing Handlin of using up his best lines.

Denis Handlin

To hand over the award to Chugg, ARIA called in a professional – the voice of rock and roll in Australia, Trevor Smith. The legendary radio announcer and program director later became the voice a promoter needed to use to sell his concert tickets. Record companies also used him for albums, but sadly you don’t get to see too many album releases advertised on TV or radio these days.

Smith left his leafy harbourside spot in Sydney several years ago for the delights of Suffolk Park beside Byron Bay. He still runs a studio up there and clever promoters seek him out for their ads.

Smith recalled a number of Chugg tales including one where they travelled together to the Woodstock 25th anniversary concert in 1994 where the local promoter ended up utilising the Australian promoter’s skills at running an event to turn what threatened to be a disaster into a successful weekend with close to half a million people.

Smith also retold the story of how Chugg worked initially as a sports caller for ABC in Tasmania until one day innocently dropping the F-bomb. It was the end of his radio career.

ARIA assembled a tribute video with comments from people from all parts of the music business.

Although Chugg accused both Smith and Handlin of stealing his lines, he didn’t have any trouble filling much of half an hour recalling the highlights of his 50+ years in the business.

Chugg remembered the Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs gig in Tasmania that motivated him to chase a career in the music biz.

The promoter talked about his long relationship with Michael Gudinski (who was watching on) and admitted that while they had been variously partners and competitors, they had never been enemies.

Chugg also told the story of how he never wanted to get into management again until one day Sheppard turned up in his office and he thought they were worth a crack. That story led him to talk about how the music industry was about to go into battle (again) with commercial radio over Australian music quotas.

Chugg said that it is easier (for his artists) to get airplay overseas than in Australia.
The comments were received with nods of agreement from the record company executives in the room.

Not so much the radio people perhaps – including SCA chief executive Grant Blackley and Nova Entertainment chief executive Cathy O’Connor. They were back a long way from the lectern, perhaps anticipating a drive by!

The Awards night was a great celebration of the best of Australian music this year. It did perhaps lack a major international artist that could have drawn in a few more viewers.

Not that there was anything wrong with the line-up. Australia’s biggest artists of the past 12 months were in attendance – they won and sang. Although Toni Watson has the hottest song in the world and for 2019, her brand is still new and growing.

Tones and I

There were some wonderful performances from the international guests including Khalid, Dua Lipa and Halsey.

The Aussie artists all shined too from Tones and I to Guy Sebastian, also a wonderful host, to Human Nature (an event highlight), Hilltop Hoods featuring Illy and Ecca Vandal, and also The Tesky Brothers (brilliant).

Dua Lipa

The ARIA Awards did have U2 live from Perth, but no matter how much Richard Wilkins explained to the audience how lucky they were to have them, there seemed to be general indifference during their segment from many in the best seats near the front of the stage.

Which brings me to one of the night’s problems – should the industry be giving the ARIAs a little more respect? Halfway through the Awards show the front 10 rows seemed to be less than half full. Many people were wandering in out seemingly taking little interest in what was unfolding onstage.

That certainly wasn’t everybody – the record company CEOs, their senior executives and the touring companies, band management and executives from Nova and SCA were paying attention. Guests from ARN watching on included KIIS music director Brad McNicol, iHeartRadio’s Brett ‘Nozz’ Nossiter and ARN’s content director Duncan Campbell. Meanwhile KIIS FM Sydney’s Intern Pete covered the red carpet.

Interested onlookers who didn’t move from their seat for long also included Nine’s head of programming Hamish Turner and Foxtel’s executive director of television Brian Walsh.

Halsey

One interested onlooker every year is former Nova programming chief Dean Buchanan. Interestingly he was sitting right behind SCA’s Grant Blackley. It is a busy week for Buchanan. He flew back to New Zealand early this morning to attend his farewell from NZME and then it is his last day in the office on Friday.

The radio exec who has worked in the UK, Australia and New Zealand he is considering a few options about what to do next.

The Tesky Brothers

The nicest moments of the night were perhaps some of the artist speeches. There’s no room here to detail them all. But reward yourself and watch the Awards if you haven’t seen them on 9Now or YouTube. You might be surprised.

Highlights include Human Nature on their career and importance of family and their career defining meetings with Denis Handlin, Smokey Robinson and their manager Jennifer Fontaine.

Guy Sebastian also had some nice words about the hottest manager in the business – “the best business decision I ever made” he said perhaps alluding to the fallout he had in the past.

ARIAs Best of the Best

Best winner who should have performed: Amyl and the Sniffers
Most grateful winner: Music teacher of the Year Antonio Chiappetta
Most unprepared winner: Tones and I (“I only wrote one speech”)
Missing genre from live performances: Rock and roll
Best presenters: Former triple j team Matt and Alex, current triple j team Veronica and Lewis
Best (and longest) acceptance speech: Human Nature
Most neglected presenters: U2
Best international performers: Dua Lipa, Halsey and Khalid (All very classy, too hard to separate)
Multiple award winners: Dean Lewis, Guy Sebastian, Tones and I
Best video acceptance speech: Taylor Swift and her cat
Most in demand presenter: Justine Clark – Is there an awards show or Upfront she hasn’t been needed for?
Funniest line: Dylan Alcott – “I won’t be the only one who won’t be able to walk out of here tonight”
Most surprised winner: Kaiite

PNAU is one of the country’s most iconic electronic acts and they proved that when they performed at Nova’s Red Room earlier this week.

A big room holding over 800 fans watched PNAU at The Factory Theatre in Marrickville as they smashed out their ARIA-nominated hits.

The Red Room was hosted by Smallzy and he first introduced the opening act, Australian singer songwriter Starley to the stage where she performed three songs including her hit single Call On Me.

When PNAU later hit the stage they opened their set with Changa. The crowd didn’t need any warming up and the band powered through Go Bang, Solid Gold, Changes, Embrace, Control Your Body and they wrapped up their performance with the smash hit Chameleon, nominated for an ARIA this week.

Guests included management from TMRW Music and their sub label etcetc including Anna Fitzgerald, plus actors from Home and Away and Neighbours.

Then on the eve of the ARIA Awards, Nova’s Red Room showcased performances from Birds of Tokyo and Dean Lewis on a double bill back at The Factory Theatre.

Birds of Tokyo

Between the two acts, they had six ARIA nominations and were both up for 2019’s Song of the Year. The event space was again packed with around 800 Nova listeners.

Nova’s weekend breakfast host and newsreader for Nova 96.9’s Fitzy & Wippa show Matt De Groot first introduced Australian rockers Birds of Tokyo to the stage. They kicked off the night playing hit tracks Lanterns, I’d Go With You Anywhere, Plans and more, finishing the set with their ARIA nominated song, Good Lord.

Nova’s Matt de Groot

After a brief Red Room rejig, De Groot then introduced Australian singer songwriter, and good friend, Dean Lewis to the stage and the energy re-lifted the moment he made his way on with the guitar.

Lewis has played over 200 shows over the past 12 months but mentioned on stage he’d always dream of performing for a Nova Red Room. He performed Hold Of Me, Need You Now, Stay Awake, Chemicals, Lose My Mind, Half A Man (with a cello), Time To Go, Don’t Hold Me, Be Alright, 7 Minutes, a cover of The Killers’ hit When You Were Young, then finished off with his new hit single, Waves. Lewis won the ARIA Award for Best Male Artist and Album of the Year for A Place We Knew this week, thanking De Groot from the stage for his help is sharing a Lewis recording early in his career.

Birds of Tokyo

The double header Red Room guests included EMI director of PR and media Trent Titmarsh, and Universal Music managing director Mike Taylor, smoothfm presenter and news journalist Ron Wilson, Nova Entertainment’s chief programming and marketing officer Paul Jackson, head of programming for Nova 96.9 and smoothfm Peter Clay, Nova group operations director Brendan Taylor, Nine sports presenter James Bracey and singer Fletcher Pilon.

Nova’s Peter Clay, Paul Jackson and Brendan Taylor

Tonight Nova’s Red Room ARIA Week will wrap up with four time ARIA winner Tones and I, at The Lair in The Metro.

Nine’s James Bracey with wife Margot (right) and friends

 —

Top Photo: PNAU

News Corp Australia’s managing director, national sales, Lou Barrett (pictured) said strong demand in the Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier-Mail and The Advertiser reflected the need for advertisers to attract a mass and engaged audience in a trusted environment.

“Newspapers remain highly effective in delivering mass awareness and consideration of a brand to audiences,” she said.

Barrett said there was a growing consensus among clients of the need to advertise in trusted environments.

“Consumers trust brands according to where they advertise and advertisers trust premium environments such as those offered by our news brands,” she said.

“The fact advertising has been so disrupted means the options available to talk to a mass market is only going to grow in importance.”

Barrett added while the Black Friday/Cyber Monday advertising would help brands with short-term sales, choosing trusted media also built long-term equity, especially for up-and-coming challenger brands.

Harvey Norman, Myer, JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys, Kmart, 1st Choice, Bunnings, David Jones, Coles, Officeworks, Specsavers, TripaDeal, Woolworths, Kidstuff, T2, Forever New, Supre, Country Road, Amazon Australia, Adidas Sports Performance, Rodd & Gunn, Typo, House, Cotton On, Seafolly, Bed Bath & Table, Smiggle, Michael Hill, Peter Alexander.

Australian TV became even more diverse in 2019 and some people lost their mind. Andrew Bolt thought the insanely brilliant Get Krack!n finale (ABC), with Miranda Tapsell and Nakkiah Liu, was “anti-white racism” (um, it was satire) before then accusing Deborah Mailman of “inciting violence” in the compelling Total Control (despite it being a fictional drama).

Critics of public broadcasters were so busy looking for faults, they forgot to mention all the brilliant stuff made this year. Funny, that. For example, Robbie Hood (SBS On Demand), The Heights (ABC), The Hunting (SBS), Harlow (ABC), The Family Law (SBS), Frayed (ABC), Glitch (ABC), Squinters (ABC) and The Letdown (ABC).

How about joyful and life-affirming shows like Old People’s Home for 4-Year-Olds (ABC), Australia In Colour (SBS), Employable Me (ABC), Eurovision: Australia Decides (SBS), Love On The Spectrum (ABC), Slow TV (SBS) and the adorable Bluey (ABC). Still nothing to say, Andrew Bolt? Funny, that.

Lambs of God was a gothic masterpiece from Foxtel and Wentworth delivered the best cliffhanger of the year (The Freak is alive!). Upright (Sunday on FoxShowcase), starring Tim Minchin and rising star Milly Alcock, caps off another great year for them.

Last New Year’s Day, Stan brought us the beautiful Bloom (Stan) and premiering this summer, it’s The Other Guy, The Gloaming, The Commons and The True Story of the Kelly Gang. Nice tradition.

Free TV did not have the best year, with their dramas arriving cold when they should have been steaming hot. Secret Bridesmaids Business (Seven), Bad Mothers (Nine) and Playing For Keeps (10) all had racy titles, all were chasing the same audience, and all went nowhere. That left just two surprise hits, the delightful Five Bedrooms (10) and the riotous Fat Pizza: Back In Business (7mate).

While Home and Away (Seven) covered the same ground yet again (bad boys with guns, women in peril, Alf says “Strewth”), Neighbours (10Peach) had their best ever year, thanks to a Gold Logie nominated death scene from Eve Morey (Sonia) and the iconic Kerry Armstrong (Heather) as a bogan mother of long lost twins.

Let’s give Neighbours and Madeleine West (Andrea and Dee) the Best Twins Award because she was superb in differentiating identical twins. Rebel Wilson, however, gets the Worst Twins Award for not being able to play a brothel owner and her twin sister in Les Norton (ABC). Instead, she played Rebel Wilson … and Rebel Wilson … in what turned out to be a somewhat disappointing show all round.

Finally, SeaChange (Nine) was rebooted and jumped the shark, because nothing was sillier all year than the now-cartoonish Bob Jelly (John Howard) cracking open a police safe … with a paper clip … after he learnt it on YouTube. And they wonder why kids don’t watch TV anymore.

Next Week:

Best International Dramas
Second Season Sensations
And the Flops of the Year

Thursday Week 48 2019

• Seven News 825,000/801,000
• Nine News 702,000/726,000
• A Current Affair 605,000A
• ABC News 581,000
• 7.30 485,000
• The Project 221,000/376,000
• 10 News First 285,000
• The Drum 167,000
• SBS World News 118,000

Breakfast TV

• Sunrise 266,000
• Today 195,000

Seven

The 2019 series final of Better Homes and Gardens looked back at a busy year and had some Christmas food tips including a ham and a great looking dessert. The episode did 411,000 ahead of half hour Countdown to Christmas episodes next week.

Another Cricket Edition of The Front Bar followed with guests Ricky Ponting and Doug Walters. The episode did 367,000 after 383,000 last week.

Nine

Black Friday bargains and a noisy bird lady featured on A Current Affair with 605,000 watching.

Europe then featured on Seven Worlds One Planet with 532,000 watching after 595,000 on Thursday last week.

Graham Norton’s interview with Elton John was on after 8.40pm and did 461,000. Nine followed it with Sir Elton’s Brits Icon special with 263,000 staying on.

10

The Project was again under 400,000 with 376,000. Tommy Little was on the red carpet at the GQ Awards and there was coverage of the ARIA Awards.

Jamie Oliver’s Ultimate Veg then did 205,000.

The final Trial By Kyle couldn’t have had a much lower lead-in which saw the final courtroom drama do just 140,000.

ABC

Grand Designs Australia saw host Peter Maddison tracking the progress of a build in Foxground with 379,000 watching.

The UK crime drama Shetland then did 240,000.

SBS

There was a mixture of food flavours on offer.

The Wonderful World of Chocolate did 189,000 at 7.30pm.

But it was well outrated by a popular soft drink at 8.30pm when The Secrets of Coca-Cola had 247,000 watching.