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Sydney Morning Herald and Age investigative journalist Nick McKenzie has been awarded the special Walkley Honour for Media Freedom, along with investigative journalist Chris Masters, as part of the prestigious annual journalism awards.
The pair received the honour at the 68th Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism held in Sydney on Thursday night, six months after their reporting on disgraced special forces soldier Ben Roberts-Smith was vindicated by Justice Anthony Besanko.
Chris Masters (left) and Nick McKenzie.Credit: James Brickwood
Alongside the honour, the Masters-McKenzie Grant for Investigative Journalism was announced in their names, awarding $10,000 to a recipient each year.
McKenzie said the special honour was recognition of the brave SAS whistleblowers who made the reporting on Roberts-Smith possible, as well as his colleagues and editors at The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes, “who never stopped backing us to do the most difficult story of our lives”.
“I’m beyond thrilled to learn the Walkley Foundation is announcing a new investigative journalism grant that reporters can access,” he said. “Hopefully, it will help inspire budding reporters to pick the hard yarn to chase when it matters, even if the threat of litigation or other blowback looms large.”
Another special commendation given on the night went to chief investigative reporter at the Herald and 10-time Walkley winner Kate McClymont, who was recognised for her outstanding contribution to journalism, a nod to three decades of reporting
Journalists from the Herald and The Age were recognised across six categories on the night.
A two-year investigation, Paradise Poisoned, led by the Herald’s Carrie Fellner and photographer Rhett Wyman, was awarded the Walkley for Coverage of Indigenous Issues after shining a light on the Wreck Bay community, located next to a defence base that used toxic firefighting foam. This was won alongside collaborators Mathew Cornwell and Katrina McGowan from iKandy Films.
Herald sports reporter Vince Rugari, together with the cross-masthead visual stories team, won the Digital Media award for Innovation Journalism for “How to lay a perfect offside trap – and how to break it” during the peak of Matildas hype.
One of Badiucao’s prize-winning cartoons.Credit: Illustration: Badiucao
Political cartoonist for the Herald and The Age Badiucao took out the cartoon category for his work across both mastheads.
McKenzie was also honoured along with colleagues from The Age, the Herald and Nine’s 60 Minutes, Amelia Ballinger and Joel Tozer, in the Television/Video Current Affairs Long (more than 20 minutes) category for Trafficked, a series on border security, immigration and a national sex racket.
Awards for The Age included federal politics reporter Paul Sakkal’s “Daniel Andrews under direct investigation in Operation Daintree”. This won the Print/Text News Report category, while Justin McManus of The Sunday Age and The Age online won the Feature/Photographic Essay category for “Leaving the land of plenty”.
Eddie Jim’s photograph of Kioa Island, Fiji, resident Lotomau Fiafia and grandson John took out the Nikon Portrait Prize.Credit: Eddie Jim
Age photographer Eddie Jim won the Nikon Portrait Prize for his photograph Fighting Not Sinking. This award was announced in October.
The Gold Walkley went to The Australian Financial Review’s Edmund Tadros and Neil Chenoweth for their reporting on the PwC tax leaks scandal.
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