ABC Journalists Awarded At Mid-Year Walkleys
Oliver Gordon is Young Australian Journalist of the Year
ABC Alice Springs-based regional news reporter Oliver Gordon has been named the 2019 Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year for his Background Briefing story “The Black & White Hotel: Inside Australia’s Segregated Hotel Rooms”.
The investigation, which exposed racial profiling at an Alice Springs Hotel, also won the Longform Journalism category and was a finalist in the Public Service Journalism category.
ABC journalists dominated the Mid-Year Walkley Awards, held in Sydney last night, also winning for Shortform Journalism, Coverage of Community & Regional Affairs, Visual Storytelling and Arts Journalism as well as taking the Media Diversity Australia Award and the Our Watch Award for Excellence in Reporting on Violence Against Women and Children.
The prize for Coverage of Communtiy & Regional Affairs went to Burnie-based Henry Zwartz for his series of stories on child abuse in Tasmania, “‘This is Tasmania’s Ballarat’: Abuse survivors speak out“.
ABC Director News Gaven Morris said: “The award-winners demonstrate the breadth and depth of the ABC’s reporting across Australia and across the content teams in News, Regional & Local and Entertainment & Specialist.
“We are so proud of our fine upcoming crop of young journalists – the ABC’s tradition of quality public interest journalism is in good hands.”
Gordon’s entry stood out in a strong field, the judges said.
“Oliver Gordon’s entry comprised an excellent piece of investigative journalism, told well,” they said. “He had the tenacity to pursue the story, and looked at the systemic issues behind it, with reporting that was balanced and fair throughout. Bringing the community members along with him, he won their trust, and had enormous impact.”
Said Gordon: “This is a win for regional journalism, for whistle blowers, but most of all for collaboration. The story spanned ABC Regional, ABC NEWS, Background Briefing , RN, ABC Adelaide and ABC Kimberley – and everyone in between.”
Gordon will fly to the US to undertake two weeks’ worth of work experience with BuzzFeed News, The New York Times , Columbia Journalism Review , Twitter and Quartz. All category winners receive mentoring from senior journalists and their winning stories are featured on Apple News.
Full list of ABC winners:
Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year
Oliver Gordon ( Background Briefing , RN and ABC Radio): “The Black & White Hotel: Inside Australia’s Segregated Hotel Rooms”
All media: Shortform Journalism
Isabella Higgins (ABC 7pm News, ABC TV and ABC Online): “Life in the grips of a suicide crisis” “Strength in the suicide community” and “The fight of our lives”
All media: Longform Feature or Special
Oliver Gordon ( Background Briefing , RN and ABC Radio): “The Black & White Hotel: Inside Australia’s Segregated Hotel Rooms”
All media: Coverage of Community & Regional Affairs
Henry Zwartz (ABC News Regional): “‘This is Tasmania’s Ballarat’: Abuse survivors speak out”
All media: Visual Storytelling
Annika Blau and Zoe Osborne (ABC News): “Women in Asia: Growing up as a living goddess; My Huong thought she’d finally found her mother after the war; Inside Nepal’s forbidden kingdom”
Our Watch Award for Excellence in Reporting on Violence Against Women and Children
Sarah Dingle and RN’s Background Briefing team: “Australia On Trial: Carers who kill, Slavery in the suburbs, Murder on Trial”
Media Diversity Australia Award
Aaron Smith, Kirk Docker, Loni Cooper, Pauline Ernesto and Josh Schmidt (ABC and ABC iview): “You Can’t Ask That – Deaf, African Australians and Intersex”
All media: Arts Journalism Prize
Jane Howard (ABC): “How Australian theatre rebalanced its gender disparity”
The ABC also congratulates Freelance Journalist of the Year Yaara Bou Melhem, whose report “The Oasis” was aired by Foreign Correspondent , and Ben Bohane, winner of the Sean Dorney Grant for Pacific Journalism.