The Age journalists shine at 70th Walkley Awards

The Age’s team behind the coverage of the trial of triple-murderer Erin Patterson has won the Walkley award for coverage of a major news event or issue after months of dedicated and insightful reporting.

Journalists from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald won six categories at the 70th Walkleys, journalism’s annual national awards for excellence, in a ceremony on Thursday night at the ICC Sydney.

The Herald’s health editor Kate Aubusson, reporter Emily Kaine and Age investigative reporter Aisha Dow.Credit: Sydney Morning Herald

Reporters Aisha Dow, Kate Aubusson and Emily Kaine won the Walkley for specialist and beat reporting for their relentless coverage of medical misogyny. Liam Mannix and William Davis were finalists in the same category for their detailed documentation of academic wrongdoing by a disgraced Australian scientist Mark Smyth.

The groundbreaking visual story documenting the pursuit of dissident Badiucao by Chinese authorities netted The Age artist the Walkley for innovation journalism alongside artistic director Matthew Absalom-Wong, opinion editor Patrick O’Neil and head of audio and video Tom McKendrick.

Investigative reporter Eryk Bagshaw, Good Food reporter Bianca Hrovat and crime reporter Claire Sibthorpe won the Walkley for news reporting for their work uncovering the sinister underbelly of some of Australia’s most notable hospitality businesses.

Good Weekend senior writer Melissa Fyfe won the Walkley for best feature writing in the short category for her examination of forced marriages in Australia. She was also a finalist in the long feature writing category.

Christopher Hopkins took home the Nikon-Walkley press photographer of the year award for his freelance work with The Age, The Guardian and Al Jazeera.

Anti-war protesters were confronted by Victoria Police as a Land Forces protest turned violent in 2024.Credit: Chris Hopkins

The judges praised Hopkins as a “powerful storyteller who uses beauty and an artistic approach to his assignments”.

The annual Gold Walkley, considered the highest honour in Australian journalism, was won by Adele Ferguson and Chris Gillett for their investigation into failures in the childcare system. The pair also won the Walkley for television/video current affairs in the short and long-form categories.

“It is a source of immense pride in our newsroom that The Age and our work is consistently recognised by our peers as some of the country’s best journalism,” Age editor Patrick Elligett said.

Erin Patterson, who was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years.Credit: Marta Pascual Juanola

Leongatha mother-of-two Erin Patterson was found guilty of the 2023 murders of her former father-in-law and mother-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, in July after an 11-week trial in Morwell. Erin Patterson is appealing the verdict.

Elligett thanked readers who supported the important work carried out by his staff at The Age.Credit: Justin McManus

On the mushroom trial coverage, Elligett said: “This was truly a team effort that involved many reporters, photographers, editors and producers, all who worked tirelessly over weeks.”

Nine’s Andrew Probyn won the television/video news reporting category for his report into Russian gangsters and the Medibank hack, while The Australian Financial Review’s Primrose Riordan and Lisa Murray took home the Walkley for feature writing in the long category for their reporting on Twiggy Forrest and Fortescue.

The AFR’s Lucy King, Joshua Peach, Fiona Buffini and Bryan Cook won the Walkley for explanatory journalism for their work on Australia’s $11 billion charity stockpile, while Neil Chenoweth and Mark DiStefano won the business journalism Walkley for their reporting on Chris Ellison and MinRes.

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Staff from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald were nominated a total of 15 times across 12 of 30 categories spanning news, photography, feature writing and long-form television journalism.

“Thank you to the wonderful Age subscribers who support this important work and to the hard-working production teams that bring this work to our audience with care, but don’t always receive the accolades they deserve,” Elligett said.

More than 1000 works were entered in this year’s awards, with winners decided by an array of leading journalists and judged on strict criteria.

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