Airdate: 2011 Walkley Awards

Australia’s premier journalism awards, The 2011 Walkley Awards, will be staged in Brisbane on Sunday night.

Hosted by Dateline’s Yalda Hakim (pictured) and Nine News political correspondent Lane Calcutt, they can be seen via a delayed broadcast on SBS ONE.

Whether it was natural disasters at home and abroad, the Arab Spring or Australia’s own volatile political environment, 2011 has been a big year for journalism.

While Queenslanders have suffered terribly from cyclones and floods, the state is coming out of disaster mode stronger than ever and welcoming Australia’s best journalists as they convene at Brisbane’s Convention & Exhibition Centre.

There they’ll look back at the year’s biggest stories and discover which of them will take home a Walkley Award, the highest award for journalistic excellence in Australia.

Hosted by SBS Dateline’s Yalda Hakim and Channel Nine political correspondent Lane Calcutt, the 2011 Walkley Awards showcases Australian journalism at its best.

It’ll also tickle your funny bone with appearances by Wendy Harmer, The Hamster Wheel and an allsinging, all-dancing Queensland political icon…

This year a new category enters the Walkley Awards: Best Documentary. It recognises that when grounded in strong journalistic principles and encased in rigorous filmmaking, documentaries reflect the emotion and drama of the human experience.

And in this, its inaugural year, SBS-commissioned documentaries feature as the three finalists for this award.

Join Yalda and Lane as they host the 56th Annual Walkley Awards on Sunday 27 November and find out who, out of all the winners, will take home the coveted Gold Walkley.

A list of finalists for the 2011 Walkley Awards is available at www.walkleys.com.

Sunday 27 November, 10.05pm on SBS ONE.