News

Newcastle Herald’s Joanne McCarthy wins Gold Walkley

Screen Shot 2013-11-29 at 11.08.34 AMNewcastle Herald journalist Joanne McCarthy has won Australian journalism’s top honour the Gold Walkley for her coverage of the sexual abuse of children, particularly in the Catholic church, in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley region.

Last night’s event was hosted in Brisbane and saw ABC Australian Story host Caroline Jones recognised with the Walkley Award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism for 2013, while Gerard Ryle was also honoured with the Walkley Leadership Award.

The Guardian Australia also picked up its first Walkley, after launching six months ago, for best multimedia storytelling for “Firestorm”, a story following a family during the Tasmania bushfires.

Chair of the Walkley Advisory Board, Laurie Oakes said McCarthy’s award recognised her efforts to raise the issue of child sexual abuse through the Newcastle Herald’s “Shine the Light” series, which led a campaign for a royal commission.

“Joanne’s work is a shining example of what can be achieved through compassionate and sensitive reporting and the ability to engender sources’ trust,” said Oakes.

In addition to helping spark both state and federal inquiries into child sexual abuse, McCarthy’s work helped launch two police strike forces and resulted in almost 500 criminal charges and the arrest of at least 12 religious brothers and priests.

Print/Text News Report
Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker, The Age, “Airport in grip of drug trade”, “Smuggled guns/When the good guys go bad”, “Bikies infiltrate police/With friends like these”

All Media Social Equity Journalism
Sarah Whyte and Ben Doherty, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Made in Bangladesh: Unpicking the human price of global fashion”

All Media Multimedia Storytelling
Katharine Viner, Lee Glendinning, Madhvi Pankhania and Jonathan Richards, Guardian Australia, “Firestorm”

All Media Headline Journalism
Adrian Nesbitt, Herald Sun, “Easy, rider”, “The long kick goodnight”, “Caucus interruptus”

All Media Coverage of Indigenous Affairs
Kathy Marks, Griffith REVIEW, “Channelling Mannalargenna”

All Media Coverage of Community and Regional Affairs
Chad Watson, Joanne McCarthy, Ian Kirkwood and Jason Gordon, Newcastle Herald, “Shine the light”

All Media Sports Journalism
Caro Meldrum-Hanna, 7.30, ABC TV, “The Essendon files”, “Demons in damage control”, “The Cronulla files”

Nikon-Walkley Sport Photography
Wolter Peeters, Fairfax Media, “2013 Sydney International Rowing Regatta”

Radio/Audio News and Current Affairs Journalism
Neil Mitchell, Radio 3AW, “The Ford scoop”

Radio/Audio Documentary, Feature, Podcast or Special
Sarah Dingle, Background Briefing, ABC Radio National, “The family trap”, “Some home truths about child abuse”

Print/Text Feature Writing Long (Over 4000 words)
Melissa Lucashenko, Griffith REVIEW, “Sinking below sight: Down and out in Brisbane and Logan”

All Media Scoop of the Year
James Campbell, Herald Sun, “Secret tapes bombshell: Police crisis rocks government”

All Media Cartoon
Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Kevin cleans up”

All Media Artwork
Pat Campbell, The Canberra Times, “Glimmer of hope”

All Media Coverage of a Major News Event or Issue
Richard Baker, Nick McKenzie, Caroline Wilson, John Silvester, Jake Niall and The Age team, The Age, “Essendon drug scandal”

Print/Text Feature Writing Short (under 4000 words)
Patrick Carlyon, Herald Sun, “Medic! Medic! Medic! Medic!”

Nikon-Walkley News Photography
Colin Murty, News Corp Australia, “Final journey”

All Media Business Journalism
Adele Ferguson and Chris Vedelago, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, “Profit above all else: How CBA lost savings and hid its tracks”, “Targets, bonuses, trips: Inside the CBA boiler room”, “Senate to launch inquiry into ASIC”

Nikon-Walkley Photo of the Year
Barat Ali Batoor, The Global Mail, “The first day at sea”

Nikon-Walkley Feature/Photographic Essay
Barat Ali Batoor, The Global Mail, “Hazara exodus”

All Media International Journalism
Amanda Hodge, The Weekend Australian Magazine, The Weekend Australian and The Australian, “No place called home”, “Taliban shadow on a gangster’s paradise in Pakistan”, “Indian rape family speaks out for justice”

All Media Camerawork
Tim Noonan, Sunday Night, Seven Network, “Shipbreakers”, “Surrogacy”, “Jackson’s story”

TV/AV News Reporting
Robert Ovadia and Paula Doneman, Seven News, Seven Network, “The Dark Side of the Force”

TV/AV Daily Current Affairs
Suzanne Smith, Tony Jones, John Bruce, Michael Doyle and Brant Cumming, Lateline, ABC TV, “The tipping point”

TV/AV Weekly Current Affairs
Trevor Bormann and Vivien Altman, Foreign Correspondent, ABC TV, “Prisoner X – the Australian connection”, “Prisoner X – the secret”

All Media Investigative Journalism
Trevor Bormann and Vivien Altman, Foreign Correspondent, ABC TV, “Prisoner X – the Australian connection”, “Prisoner X – the secret”

All Media Interview
Jenny Brockie, Insight, SBS TV, “Young Mob”

All Media Commentary, Analysis, Opinion & Critique
Caroline Wilson, The Age, “Would you want your son playing in the AFL?”, “Right thing for Hird to do is step down”, “Blind pride drove coach’s denial and the bodies piled up”

Documentary Award
Martin Butler and Bentley Dean, Contact Films, ABC TV, First Footprints

Walkley Book Award
Pamela Williams, Killing Fairfax, Harper Collins

Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year
Kate Geraghty, Fairfax Media

Outstanding Contribution to Journalism
Caroline Jones, ABC

Leadership
Gerard Ryle, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

Gold
Joanne McCarthy, Newcastle Herald

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