Walkley Book Award
Geesche Jacobsen examined the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of Dianne Brimble and the high profile inquest that followed in “Abandoned: The sad death of Dianne Brimble” - Allen & Unwin.
Mark McKenna painted a sweeping portrait of one of Australia's most controversial and influential cultural figures in “An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark- Melbourne University Publishing.
News that makes sense
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The devastatingly portrait of Papunya, a Western Desert community that once showed such promise, now a community in severe crisis was the subject of Russell Skelton's “King Brown Country: The Betrayal of Papunya” - Allen & Unwin.
Best Print, Online and Wire Service: News Report.
The Age's Philip Dorling provided a uniquely Australian perspective on a huge global story in 'WikiLeaks: The Secret Australian Files”.
Jason Koutsoukis covered the unfolding story of the Libyan uprising from the front line in “Tobruk rises up but fear pervades” for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Joseph Catanzaro revealed the human toll the war in Afghanistan has inflicted on our troops for The West Australian in “Secret Toll of War”.
Social Equity Journalism
The Courier-Mail's Trent Dalton provided a rare insight into the mind of male domestic violence offenders in “Home is Where The Hurt Is” for Qweekend The Courier Mail.
Steve Cannane, Jo Puccini and Alison McClymont's “Inside the Malaysia Deal” for Lateline provided a unique insight into the Malaysia deal negotiations.
Kirsti Melville tackled one of society's greatest taboos to produce the brave, confronting and eye opening “Age of Attraction” for 360documentaries, Radio National.
Best Online Journalism
Andy Drewitt's “Carers in Crisis” highlighted the larger social issue that carers face in the community through one family's story, for Leader Community Newspapers .
ABC News Online Investigative Unit Eleanor Bell, Ed Giles & Suzanne Smith went inside the Sydney suburb of Mt Druitt after the disappearance of school girl Kiesha Abrahams to see what was being done to stop at-risk children falling through the cracks in “Beating the Odds”.
ABC News Online's Mathew Liddy, Andrew Kesper, Jim Whimpey, Gillian Bradford & Katie Franklin's before and after aerial images of the “Brisbane Floods” and “Japan Tsunami” told the story of the devastation in a way that took full advantage of the online medium.
Daily Life/Feature Photography
The Daily Telegraph's Mark Evans recorded former jockey Brian York's 10-hour preparation ritual to ensure his Standard Poodle Riley was ready for dog show judging.
Scott Barbour's photos for Getty Images showed that for many a day at the races is much more than just horse racing.
The Australian's Stuart McEvoy's image of Maria Domandi in her shattered house in Tully after Cyclone Yasi hit.
Best Three Headings
For The Age Warwick McFadyen's entry titled “Heads Up”: “Greens and leaks leave sour taste in Gillard's mouth”; “All a'twitter, the Hurley bird should have seen the Warne-ing signs”; “Massaging the figures? Stats the way (they like it)”.
Rita Williams from The Sydney Morning Herald entry titled “Three Heading”: “Unarmed and dangerous: ADF warned of holes in its own defence” ; “Chew for IQ: pupils go in gums blazing”; “Spying on the increase but the bugs don't necessarily bite”.
Also from The Sydney Morning Herald, Shane Brady “Mixed doubles rubbers put drains under strain” “Can you hear the drums, Fernando?...” “Farewell this unrepresentative swill”.
Coverage of Indigenous Affairs
Tony Koch and Sarah Elks spent several weeks investigating allegations that the showpiece Cairns-based indigenous education facility, Djarragun (JA-ruh-guhn) College, was being administered to the detriment of disadvantaged indigenous students in “Model Indigenous College Fights Claims” for The Australian.
The Townsville Bulletin's Kathleen Skene exposed directors of a local housing charity for rorting the system to benefit family members in “Family First”.
Peter Cronau (crow-no) & Matthew Carney's Four Corners investigation “Return to Aurukun” gave a unique and exclusive perspective of the effects indigenous policies have had on a west coast Cape York community over the past 30 years.
Coverage of Community and Regional Affairs
With Cyclone Yasi looming Emily Macdonald and The Townsville Bulletin Team provided rolling coverage in print and online for their local community that continued for months after the “Monster” cyclone.
Jane Bardon's “Inpex underestimates blasting impact on dolphins” for ABC 1 TV revealed the potentially devastating effects of the Japanese gas giant Inpex's plans to build a $12 billion gas plant in Darwin.
Nigel Hopkins secured exclusive access to the Inverbrackie Detention Centre to write the human side of the story in “Inside Inverbrackie”, published in Adelaide Hills Magazine.
Best Sports Journalism
Grantlee Kieza took readers on a journey in “The Horse Whisperer: Peter Moody and the making of Black Caviar” for Qweekend, The Courier-Mail.
Gerard Whately nailed two of the biggest breaking stories in Australian sport in a week. “Neil Craig resigns” and “Dean Bailey Sacked” for ABC TV and Fox Sports.
Caro Meldrum-Hanna broke new ground, exposing the biggest scam in the 100-year history of Harness Racing in NSW in “Harness Racing Under Scrutiny” for 7.30 ABC TV.
Sport Photography
For Getty Images Ryan Pierse captured a group of Sydney men who meet regularly at Ben Buckler headland at Bondi Beach to scale a five-meter rope barehanded.
Also from Getty Images Quinn Rooney captured the Australian Swimming team on its journey from qualifying to reaching the 2011 World Swimming Championships in Shanghai.
Adam Pretty used unique angles and alternative views to capture the decisive sporting moments of “ Shanghai World Swimming Championships 2011“, again for Getty Images.
Radio News and Current Affairs Reporting
Mark Willacy brought to Australians the tragedy and despair of the Japanese people in “Rikuzentakata Tsunami” for PM, ABC Radio.
Reporting from Libya Ben Knight highlighted the early euphoria of the rebellion in the reality of the dangerous and difficult circumstances the rebels faced in “Tobruk celebrates freedom from Gaddafi” for ABC Radio.
Neil Mitchell's “The leak that finished the chief commissioner” turned the Victorian political agenda on its head when he revealed the contents of leaked internal police crime figures for Radio 3AW Melbourne.
Radio Feature, Documentary or Broadcast Special
Kirsti Melville took listeners to places they would never normally go in tackling the subject of paedophilia in “Age of Attraction” for 360 documentaries ABC Radio National.
Revisiting the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody 20 years on Sacha Payne, Stefan Armbruster, Ron Sutton, Karen Ashford & Jennifer Curtis for SBS World News Australia Radio showed very little had changed to protect indigenous prisoners in “Two decades, too little, too late for many…”
Katrina Bolton put the spotlight on businesses who cater to Indigenous drinkers in Central Australia in “Drink, Death and Dollars” for The World Today ABC Radio National.
Magazine Feature Writing
The ABC's Annabel Crabb, for her essay published in The Monthly “PM Interrupted: The Story Gillard Can't Tell” marked the first anniversary of Julia Gillard's minority government and asked the question, “Why is she having so much difficulty communicating with voters?”.
Christine Jackman's compelling and compassionate “Caught in the net” in The Weekend Australian Magazine gave a human face to another side of the asylum seeker debate.
Mike Colman's emotional and touching feature “Tree of Life” for Qweekend The Courier-Mail was 10 years in the making.
Best Scoop of the Year
Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie's “Bugged: Sir Ken Jones targeted by the OPI” for The Age exposed the Victorian police watchdog's top-secret phone tapping operation
Ten News' Matt Moran and Hugh Riminton's “Skype Scandal” broke the story of Kate, an 18-year-old female cadet whose sexual encounter with another cadet had been broadcast without her knowledge on Skype.
The ABC's Anjelique Johnson and Nick Harmsen's stories chronicled the political demise of South Australian Premier Mike Rann, and revealed a factional coup that would otherwise have remained secret in “Rann Coup”.
Cartoon
For The Age Oslo Davis gives us the deeply engaging and layered cartoon of “Assange”.
Mark Knight's original idea and highly skilled artwork makes a sharp political point in “Those Beady Little Eyes” for the Herald Sun.
The Australian Financial Review's David Rowe illustrated the News of the World phone hacking saga in one superb snapshot - “Mini Murdoch”.
Artwork
Simon Bosch's emotional illustration of the “Dark Legacy of Child Abuse” for The Sydney Morning Herald .
David Rowe's “Budget 2011” captured the budget and all its political changes on what is traditionally one of the most visually challenging days of the year for the Australian Financial Review.
Multi-functional and multi-layered Mario Lendvai took readers into the world of yacht racing with “Sydney-Hobart yacht race” for The Australian.
In “Japan Fallout” in The Courier-Mail, Tony Bela has managed to explain a very complex subject without dumbing it down.
Sustained Coverage of an Issue or Event
Encompassing four different broadcast mediums, Mark Willacy's “Rikuzentakata tsunami” provided the ABC with continuous coverage of the disaster surrounding the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Jason Koutsoukis provided a compelling picture of a nation in turmoil with “One Man lights a powderkeg and Arab world is shaken to its core” for The Age/The Sydney Morning Herald.
The Australian's Natasha Bita chipped away methodically and professionally at Australia's questionable vaccine policy in “Virus in the System”.
Newspaper Feature Writing
In “The big C and me”, Jill Baker documents her personal experience with breast cancer, for the Herald Sun.
The Australian Financial Review's Pamela Williams took us behind closed doors into meetings and boardrooms for her story “How AMP won the long war for AXA”.
Rory Callinan and Michael McKenna for The Weekend Australian pieced together the tragic stories of abuse and neglect in “Official failure leads to lives lost”.
News Photography
Craig Greenhill's powerful image “Christmas Island Tragedy” shows asylum seeker Fatima Aqhlaqi at the grave of her brother-in-law for The Daily Telegraph.
Toowoomba Chronicle's Neville Madsen shot a dramatic series of rescue photos from the Toowoomba floodwaters.
The roof was gone, the walls were gone…but the beer was cold. Rob Maccoll's photo “Is that all you've got?” for News Queensland captured the Aussie larrikin spirit.
Business Journalism
“Bad Call”, Stephen Long, Mary Fallon and Wayne Harley's Four Corners program, revealed how companies offering discount phone plans combined with unscrupulous finance companies cheated thousands of small business owners.
The Australian Financial Review's Angus Grigg and Jamie Freed broke the scoop of “NSW Labour and the $1 land deal” in the last days of the NSW Labor government.
Breaking the news that the biggest business deal in Australian history was about to be abandoned Michael West's “Rio dumps record BHP deal” for The Sydney Morning Herald /The Age was a classic business scoop.
Photographic Essay
The Australian's Stuart McEvoy covered the magnitude and emotion of the natural disaster in “Up to their necks-Southern Queensland floods”.
In his series “Stolen Spirits”, Glenn Campbell showed the emotional return of Aboriginal bones to their traditional owners for The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age.
Jason Edwards captured the characters and way of life a travelling family circus with “Circus Olympia: Life behind the curtains” for Leader Newspapers.
International Journalism
Ten years on from The Tampa and the Pacific Solution Ben Doherty's “A journey that ended where it started –in despair” for The Age/Sydney Morning Herald highlighted the bigger issue in the asylum seeker debate, people's lives.
As calls for democracy spread across the Arab world Yaara Bou Melhem filmed a series of stories on the movements and subsequent crackdowns in Bahrain and Syria, “Struggle for Freedom” for Dateline SBS.
Again for Dateline Fouad (foo-ard) Hady (hardy), Geoff Parish & Melanie Morrison delivered a searing portrait of the life and death of Ahmad al Akabi in “Breaking Point”.
Broadcast Camerawork
Geoffrey Lye took Foreign Correspondent viewers into the world of refugees escaping the African drought in “Kenya: a place in the sand”.
Seven News cameraman Jeremy Ward captured the horror and magnitude of the “Lockyer Valley Flood”.
Working alone as a video journalist for Dateline Aaron Lewis highlighted the cruelty of the notorious war criminal Joseph Kony in “Manhunt”.
Television News Reporting
Ten News' Matt Moran and Hugh Riminton's “Skype Scandal” broke the story of 18-year-old cadet Kate whose sexual encounter had been broadcast without her knowledge.
The Seven Network team of Erin Edwards, Geoff Breusch, Jeremy Ward, Luke Miers (PRON Meers as in Cheers) & Sally Eeles captured the horrific wall of water which hit the Lockyer Valley in “Lockyer Valley Flood”.
Hamish Macdonald delivered a compelling and moving account of the disaster unfolding in Japan for 6.30 with George Negus, Network Ten in “Sendai Search”.
AV25. Television Current affairs feature, documentary or special (Less than 20 minu
Television Current Affairs Reporting (Less than 20 minutes)
Ross Coulthart and Mick O'Donnell gave viewers a rare insight into the life and death decisions regularly faced by dedicated emergency crews in “Rescue 500” for Sunday Night the Seven Network
In “Trapped in your own Body” for Hungry Beast and ABC TV, Monique Schafter challenged the way we think about disability.
Fouad Hady, Geoff Parish and Melanie Morrison delivered a searing portrait of the life and death of Ahmad al Akabi in “Breaking Point” for Dateline.
Television Current affairs feature, documentary or special (More than 20 minutes)
The Four Corners team of Sarah Ferguson, Michael Doyle & Anne Worthington exposed the horrific cruelty to Australian cattle exported to Indonesia's abattoirs in “A Bloody Business”.
In “After the Deluge” the ABC crew of Paul Lockyer, John Bean and Gary Ticehurst detailed the amazing tales of survival and loss following the “inland tsunami” that destroyed the small village of Grantham.
At a time when Chinese authorities were cracking down on foreign journalists the Foreign Correspondent team of Stephen McDonell and Robert Hill produced confronting and compelling stories the Chinese government would have preferred to remain unreported “China's Dirty Secrets”.
Investigative Journalism
Linton Besser & Dylan Welch's “The untouchable: Crime fighters let gangsters take the money and run” for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun-Herald raised questions about levels of corruption involving secret financial deals with top criminals inside the NSW Crime commission.
The Age's Richard Baker & Nick McKenzie “RBA held evidence of bribery/Who knew what when?” sent shock waves through business and government circles when it revealed multi-million dollar commissions paid by a Reserve Bank of Australia subsidiary to win global banknote contracts.
Reporting from a difficult and dangerous situation, Mark Willacy pulled the veil from TEPCO's lies about Fukushima in “Fukushima Cover Up” for 7.30 and ABC NEWS, ABC TV.
Broadcast and Online Interviewing
Seven Network's Ross Coulthart with Sunday Night's “Ricky Nixon” interviews.
Leigh Sales the “Three Players - interviews with Scott Morrison, John Hartigan and Mark Arbib” 7.30 ABC TV.
Tony Jones for Lateline ABC TV, interviewing “Christopher Hitchens”, “Malcolm Turnbull”, and “Chris Bowen”.
Commentary, Analysis, Opinion and Critique
The Australian Financial Review's Laura Tingle's “Liars, clunkheads, rent seekers and gamblers; Federal Politics 2010-11” explains why an arcane argument about costings goes to the heart of forming government.
Michael Brissenden addressed the cross section of political, economic and social issues confronting the United States in “3 US Columns” for The Drum ABC.
John Silvester casts an experienced eye over crime, police integrity and law and order in Melbourne in 'Small fish, filthy pond” for The Saturday Age.
Documentary
The Blackfella Films team of Darren Dale, Tony Krawitz and Chloe Hooper, deconstructed the circumstances and complexities of both the legal and emotional issues surrounding the death of Cameron Doomadgee in “The Tall Man”.
Harnessing emotion and empathy to challenge the biases not only of its characters, but of its audience, Ivan O'Mahoney (Oh-mar-nee), Rick McPhee, Michael Cordell & Nick Murray showed another side to the asylum seeker debate in “Go Back to Where You Came From” for Cordell Jigsaw.
In Catherine Scott and Pat Fiske's “Scarlet Road” we are taken on a journey through sexuality and disability, providing an illuminating insight into a part of society that is often hidden.
Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year
Scott Barbour for Getty Images captured the beauty and emotion of sport, the alternative side to a day at the races and the beauty of nature, even in the midst of tragedy.
The Courier Mail's Adam Head has shown himself as a photographer that can think “outside the box” and has captured outstanding images of news and sport.
The Daily Telegraph's, Phil Hillyard has covered not only the story of the day but made sure his photographs stood out from just another picture in the paper.
