Finalists in the prestigious Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism were announced this evening at simultaneous events in Sydney and Melbourne.

This year marks the 60th annual Walkley Awards. Journalists around the nation submitted over 1,400 entries, which were judged by more than 100 senior industry representatives.

The finalists for the 2015 Nikon-Walkley Awards for Excellence in Photojournalism and the Walkley Documentary Award were announced last week.

The winners of the 60h Walkley Awards will be announced at a gala dinner on Thursday, December 3, at Crown Palladium in Melbourne. The ceremony will be broadcast live on Sky APAC and streamed on the Walkley website from 7pm.

The finalists are …

Print/Text News Report

AWARD PARTNER MEDIA SUPER
• Michael Bachelard and Armando Cordoba, The Age, “The White Jihadist”
• Peter Hartcher and James Massola, The Sydney Morning Herald, “A Cabinet Leak that Left the Prime Minister Exposed”
• Philip Wen, John Garnaut and Brendan Foster, The Age, “Operation Fox Hunt: China’s war on corruption comes to Australia”

All Media Social Equity Journalism

AWARD PARTNER SEVEN NETWORK
• Linton Besser, Ali Russell and Mario Christodoulou, Four Corners, ABC TV, “The Jobs Game”
• Hayden Cooper, Alex McDonald and Lisa Main, 7.30, ABC TV, “Nauru: Corruption, Spying and Abuse”
• Margaret Simons and Dave Tacon, The Monthly, “Fallen Angels: The children left behind by Australian sex tourists”

All Media Multimedia Storytelling

AWARD PARTNER NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA
• Adele Ferguson, Tom McKendrick, Felicity Lewis, Mark Stehle, Sarah Danckert, Nathanael Scott, Fairfax Media websites, “7-Eleven is ripping off its workers”
• Will Fitzgibbon, Eleanor Bell and Chris Zubak-Skees, smh.com.au and icij.org, “Fatal Extraction”
• Huw Parkinson, Insiders, ABC TV, “Bronwyn Bishop’s Arrested Development”, “Star Wars: Fixed” and “The Breakfast Clubbing Season”

All Media Headline Journalism

• Sean Keeley, The Courier-Mail, “Jihad me at hello”, “Fillip for republicans” and “Voyage of the crammed”
• Michael Nolan, The Saturday Paper, “Entrusted with the khakis”, “FIFA’s faux funds” and “A day at the racists”
• Paul Whittaker and Brad Clifton, Daily Telegraph, “Rash Putin”, “Salim Shady” and “Oscar Winner”

All Media Coverage of Indigenous Affairs

AWARD PARTNER NITV
• Allan Clarke, BuzzFeed, “Kimberley in Crisis”
• Stan Grant, Guardian Australia, “Stan Grant Columns”
• Michael McKenna and Paige Taylor, The Australian, “Miss Dhu”

All Media Coverage of Community and Regional Affairs

AWARD PARTNER AUSTRALIA POST
• Tahmina Ansari, ABC News, ABC News Online and ABC News 24, “Western New South Wales Stories”
• Jane Bardon, ABC, “Locked Up in the Lucky Country: The NT’s most vulnerable behind bars”
• Emma Field, The Weekly Times, “Foreign worker exploitation exposed”

All Media Sports Journalism

• Dominic Bossi and Joe Gorman, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Perth Glory’s breaching of the A-League salary cap”
• Chris Garry, Sunday Mail and The Courier-Mail, “When a Game Becomes Life and Death”
• Caro Meldrum-Hanna, Sam Clark and Max Murch, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Making a Killing”

Radio/Audio News and Current Affairs Journalism

AWARD PARTNER ABC
• Matt Brown and Suzanne Dredge, PM, ABC Radio, “Enslaved by Aussie Jihadis”
• Sarah Dingle, AM, ABC Radio, “IS Recruiters and Muslim Deradicalisation”
• Mark Willacy and Mark Solomons, PM, ABC Radio, “Hopeland”

Radio/Audio Documentary, Feature, Podcast or Special

AWARD PARTNER QUT
• Hagar Cohen, Background Briefing, ABC Radio National, “Left in Harm’s Way”
• Sharon Davis and Steven Tilley, Earshot, ABC Radio National, “Inside the NSW Drug Court”
• Sarah Dingle, ABC Radio National and The Drum Online, “Radicalisation, deradicalisation and the ‘sweet talkers’ for IS”

Print/Text Feature Writing Long (over 4000 words)

• David Kilcullen, Quarterly Essay No. 58, “Blood Year: Terror and the Islamic State”
• Margaret Simons and Dave Tacon, The Monthly, “Fallen Angels: The children left behind by Australian sex tourists in the Philippines”
• Paul Toohey, News Corp Australia, “A Wild Trip into the Ice Storm”

All Media Scoop of the Year

AWARD PARTNER NINE NETWORK
• Latika Bourke, Fairfax Media, “Dyson Heydon Liberal Party Fundraiser Revelation”
• Richard Guilliatt, The Australian, “Belle Gibson Cancer Hoax”
• Annika Smethurst, Herald Sun, “Bronwyn Bishop’s Chopper Scandal”

All Media Cartoon

• Fiona Katauskas, New Matilda, “Tony Power”
• David Pope, The Canberra Times, “Charlie Hebdo”
• Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald, “The Minister for Women’s Shirtfront”

All Media Artwork

• Safdar Ahmed, GetUp! – The Shipping News, “Villawood: Notes from an Immigration Detention Centre”
• Steven Grice, News Corp Australia websites, “Robo-pocalypse”
• David Pope, The Canberra Times, “Lake Burley Griffin 50”

All Media Coverage of a Major News Event or Issue

• Amanda Hodge and Will Swanton, The Australian, “Nepal Earthquake”
• Seven News Team, Seven News, “Lindt Cafe Siege”
• Annika Smethurst and Rob Harris, Herald Sun, “Bronwyn Bishop Expenses Scandal”

Print/Text Feature Writing Short (under 4000 words)

AWARD PARTNER FAIRFAX
• Patrick Carlyon, Herald Sun, “Sliding Doors”
• Trent Dalton, The Weekend Australian Magazine, “The Ghosts of Murray Street”
• Kate Legge, The Weekend Australian Magazine, “Children of the Ice Age”

All Media Business Journalism

AWARD PARTNER ING DIRECT
• Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, The Age, “Belle Gibson Exposed”
• Adele Ferguson, Sarah Danckert and Klaus Toft, Four Corners, ABC TV and Fairfax Media, “7-Eleven: The Price of Convenience”
• Adele Ferguson and Ruth Williams, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, “National Australia Bank in Advice Scandal”

All Media International Journalism

AWARD PARTNER UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND
• Sophie McNeill, Dave Martin and Giulia Sirignani, Foreign Correspondent, ABC TV, “The Italian Solution”
• Jewel Topsfield, Sarah Whyte, David Wroe, Amilia Rosa and Karuni Rompies, Fairfax Media, “People Smuggler Cash Payments”
• Philip Wen, Fairfax Media, “Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution: The struggle for democracy”

All Media Camerawork

AWARD PARTNER AUSTRALIAN SUPER
• Miles Bence, The Feed, SBS TV, “Skipping School”, “Violent Kids” and “New Muslims”
• Louie Eroglu, ABC News and Four Corners, ABC TV, “The Killing Season” and “The Great Cricket Coup”
• Richard Malone, 60 Minutes, Nine Network, “Winning the War”

TV/AV News Reporting

• Jane Bardon, ABC News and ABC News 24, ABC TV and ABC News Online, “Mining Giant Glencore Forced to Account for Gulf Pollution”
• Siobhan Heanue, ABC News, ABC TV, “Nepal Earthquake”
• Chris Reason, Seven News, Seven Network, “Lindt Cafe Siege”

TV/AV Daily Current Affairs

AWARD PARTNER SBS
• Matt Brown, Suzanne Dredge and Mat Marsic, 7.30, ABC TV, “Enslaved by Aussie Jihadis”
• Louise Milligan, 7.30, ABC TV, “The Navy Suicides”
• Daniel Oakes, Alex McDonald and Sam Clark, 7.30, ABC TV, “The emotional toll on Navy of Australia’s border protection policy”

TV/AV Weekly Current Affairs

• Linton Besser, Peter Cronau and Hagar Cohen, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Degrees of Deception”
• Tara Brown and Rebecca Le Tourneau, 60 Minutes, Nine Network, “Catching a Monster”
• Caro Meldrum-Hanna, Sam Clark and Max Murch, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Making a Killing”

All Media Investigative Journalism

AWARD PARTNER BAYER
• Ruth Lamperd, Sunday Herald Sun, “White Death”
• Caro Meldrum-Hanna, Sam Clark and Max Murch, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Making a Killing”
• Brad Norington, The Australian, “Battle of Wills”

All Media Interview

• Margaret Paul and Cameron Best, ABC TV News and ABC Online, “Interview with Father John McKinnon”
• David Speers, Sky News Australia, “The Fixer”
• Gerard Whateley, Mark Robinson and Tim Hodges, AFL 360, Fox Footy, Fox Sports, “The Hird Interview”

All Media Commentary, Analysis, Opinion and Critique

• Waleed Aly and Tom Whitty, The Project, Network Ten, “Negative Gearing”, “Renewable Energy Target” and “Show Me the Money”
• Annabel Crabb, The Drum, Fairfax Sundays and The Monthly, “A Crying Shame”, “The Tradies v The Ladies” and “Men Will Sleep Easier if there’s a 50/50 Quota”
• Peter Hartcher, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Come and get me”, “PM rolled by his own ministers” and “Abbott’s gamble with no safety net”

Walkley Book Award Longlist

• Quentin Beresford, The Rise and Fall of Gunns LTD, New South Publishing
• Ross Coulthart, Charles Bean, Harper Collins
• Joel Deane, Catch and Kill, University of Queensland Press
• Andrew Fowler, The War on Journalism, Random House Australia
• Erik Jensen, Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen, Black Inc.
• Chip Le Grand, The Straight Dope, Melbourne University Press
• Debi Marshall, The Family Court Murders, Random House Australia
• Brenda Niall, Mannix, Text Publishing
• Geoffrey Robertson, An Inconvenient Genocide, Random House Australia
• Sam Vincent, Blood and Guts, Black Inc.

For media enquiries, contact awards manager Lauren Dixon at the Walkley Foundation on 02 9333 0913.