The winners of Amnesty International Australia’s 2017 Media Awards have been announced, recognising excellence in reporting on human rights issues in the Australian media over the past year.
The winners are as follows:
Cartoon:
Winner: ‘Low-cost Housing, London’: Cathy Wilcox, The Age & The Sydney Morning Herald.
Other finalists:
‘Long Way Round’: Andrew Dyson, The Age;
‘Us and Them’: Glen Le Lievre, Crikey;
‘Reforming Racial Discrimination Laws’: Andrew Weldon, The Big Issue
Judges:
Judy Horacek: Freelance – Cartoonist
Mick Horne: Freelance – Cartoonist
David Pope: The Canberra Times – Cartoonist
Indigenous Issues Reporting:
Winner: ‘The Ms Dhu Inquest’: Calla Wahlquist, The Guardian.
Other finalists:
‘Death In Kalgoorlie’: Sarah Dingle and Wendy Carlisle, ABC Radio National, Background Briefing;
‘Through American Eyes’: John Eligon, Suzanne Smith, Gregory Nelson, Diana Cave, Ron Foley, Alastair Harris, Vicky Biorac, Chelsea Bond, Damien Cave, Tim Leslie, ABC and New York Times;
‘Aviation fuel sniffing in Arnhem Land sparks public health emergency’: Jano Gibson, ABC
Judges:
Daniel Browning: Awaye! (ABC RN) – Presenter
Tanya Denning Orman: NITV – Channel Manager
Bernard Namok: TEABBA (Top End Aboriginal Bush Broadcasting Association) – Senior broadcaster/trainer
Photography:
Winner: ‘Mosul’: Kate Geraghty, Fairfax Media
Other finalists:
‘Home[Less]’: Chris Hopkins, The Sunday Age
Judges:
Neil Bennett: The Daily and Sunday Telegraph – Head of Vision
Mags King: Fairfax – Managing Editor of Photography
Dean Sewell: Freelance – Photographer & founding Member of Occuli
Print/Online/Multimedia:
Winner: ‘Voice of Manus’: Behrouz Boochani, The Guardian & The Saturday Paper
Other finalists:
‘In a time of plenty, she dies of hunger’: Sally Sara and Dingani Masuku, ABC News Online;
‘The Nauru Files’: Guardian Australia’s Nauru Files reporting team, The Guardian;
‘Migrant worker exploitation: the fruit pickers’: Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker, Fairfax Media
Judges:
Danielle Cronin: The Brisbane Times – Editor
Melissa Hoyer: News.com.au – Editor at Large
Lenore Taylor: Guardian Australia – Editor
Radio:
Winner: ‘Death In Kalgoorlie’: Sarah Dingle and Wendy Carlisle, ABC Radio National, Background Briefing.
Other finalists:
‘Fallen Angels’: Heather Jarvi, Margaret Simons, Dave Tacon and Lyn Gallacher, ABC Radio National, Earshot;
‘Exploitation of Vietnamese students rampant among Melbourne and Sydney businesses’: Trinh Nguyen and Olivia (Ngoc) Nguyen, SBS Radio – Vietnamese Program;
‘Somaliland Children’: Sally Sara and Dingani Masuku, ABC radio, Correspondents Report
Judges:
Andrew Bolton: SBS Arabic 24 – Program Manager
Patricia Karvelas: ABC Radio National – Presenter
Melanie Withnall: CBAA (Community Broadcasting Association of Australia) – board member; 2SER Station Manager
Television:
Winner: ‘Forced to Marry’: Elise Potaka, Tim Anastasi, Joel Stillone, “The Feed”, SBS Viceland.
Other finalists:
‘From Miscarriage to Murder’: Evan Williams, Calliste Weitenberg, Lottie Gammon and Micah McGown, SBS, Dateline;
‘The Yazidi – People of the Peacock Angel’: Olivia Rousset, Ipek Tasli, Wendy Boynton and Danielle Akayan, ABC TV, Compass;
‘Six Days in Somaliland’: Sally Sara and Dingani Masuku, ABC News
Judges:
Samantha Maiden: Sky News Australia – Presenter
Kumi Taguchi: ABC – Host ‘Compass’
Michael Usher: Channel Seven News – Presenter
“Amnesty International congratulates all of the winners of the 2017 Media Awards for their exceptional human rights reporting. We recognise the critical role journalists, photographers and cartoonists play in exposing human rights abuses,” said Amnesty International Australia’s President and board director Gabe Kavanagh.
Gabe Kavanagh, who presented the awards along with judges at the event in Sydney, recognised the difficult climate in which journalists operate today. She highlighted the awards as an opportunity to celebrate those who go above and beyond to deliver quality human rights reporting.
“Tonight we acknowledge all of the winners and celebrate those who have pushed boundaries to reveal hidden abuses and encourage greater understanding of press freedom and human rights in Australia and around the world,” said Gabe Kavanagh.
Special guest speaker at the Awards was Deakin University’s Professor of Communications, long-time journalist and MEAA representative on the Press Council Matthew Ricketson, who spoke about human rights reporting and the importance of and threats to press freedom, including here in Australia.
The six winners each received an exquisite sculptural piece inspired by Amnesty International’s iconic flame, created by Wathaurong Glass.
The Awards ceremony was held at Sydney’s Darlinghurst Theatre.
