Walkley Awards 2024: winners

A 60 Minutes story exposing widespread corruption at the CFMEU has been awarded the Gold Walkley at the annual Walkley Awards last night in Sydney.

The honour was jointly awarded to Nine’s “Building Bad” Team: Nick McKenzie from The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes, David Marin-Guzman from The Australian Financial Review, Ben Schneiders from The Age, Garry McNab and Amelia Ballinger from 60 Minutes, and Reid Butler from Nine News.

Nick McKenzie and Amelia Ballinger were also part of the Scoop of the Year award.

Amongst other TV winners were Chris Reason from Seven News, Dateline, SBS World News, Foreign Correspondent, ABC News, 7:30 and Stan documentary How To Poison A Planet.

Pioneering Australian business journalist Robert Gottliebsen was honoured for his Outstanding Contribution to Journalism.

The Walkley Foundation’s chief executive, Shona Martyn said: “There were more than 1100 entries in this year’s Walkley Awards from journalists, photographers, documentary makers, authors, cartoonists and producers. The quality of their work was extremely high this year proving the excellence of Australia’s leading journalists. My congratulations to the winners and the finalists.”

Fiona Dear, Nine’s Director of News and Current Affairs, said, “The collaboration of Nine’s publishing and broadcast teams is one of the most formidable investigative units in the country and I couldn’t be prouder, Nick McKenzie is one of Australia’s most powerful investigative journalists. His prosecution of the CFMEU and the impact of that story, has had a profound effect on the construction industry.”

Seven Network Director of News and Current Affairs and Seven West Media Editor-in-Chief, Anthony De Ceglie, said: “These awards are well-deserved recognition of excellent journalism – of which 7NEWS strives for every single day. Chris and Simon should be very proud of an award that is a testament to the finest reporting in one of the most dangerous of locations. Individually, Chris should be very honoured for a rare feat of winning two Walkley Awards in one night for different investigations. It’s yet another credit to his very distinguished record of journalism over many years and why he is our chief reporter at 7NEWS.”

TV and related categories (winners in bold):

Gold Walkley: Building Bad Team, The Age, SMH, AFR and 60 Minutes, ‘Building Bad‘

Outstanding Contribution to Journalism
Robert Gottliebsen

All Media: Commentary, Analysis, Opinion and Critique
Annabel Crabb, ABC News, ‘Shades Of Grey’
Greg Jericho, Guardian Australia, ‘Speaking truth to power with graphs’
David Leser, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, ‘The war in Gaza: Not in my Jewish name’

All Media: Explanatory Journalism
Mridula Amin and Alex Lim, ABC News, ‘This isn’t the 30s I was promised‘
Faster, higher, stronger team, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, ‘Faster, higher, stronger’
Riley Stuart, Lucy Sweeney and Haidarr Jones, ABC News, ‘Inside Israel’s ’doomsday’ development‘

All Media: Coverage of Indigenous Affairs
ABC News Perth, ABC News, ‘WA’s Youth Justice Crisis – The Death of Cleveland Dodd’
Lorena Allam, Sarah Collard and Blake Sharp-Wiggins, Guardian Australia, ‘Buried Lives’
Caroline Graham, Kylie Stevenson and Tilda Colling, The Australian, ‘NT Schools in Crisis’

All Media: Coverage of Community & Regional Affairs
Oliver Jacques, Region Riverina, ‘Rise and fall of Griffith winemaker who owes $32 million’
Matthew Kelly, Newcastle Herald, ‘Three decades on the streets’
Erin Parke and Andrew Seabourne, ABC News and ABC, 7.30, ‘Boat Arrivals’

All Media: Sports Journalism
Tom Decent, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, ‘The secret Zoom call that brought down a Wallabies coach’
SBS News Documentaries, SBS Television, ‘Came From Nowhere: Australia’s Most Controversial Football Club’
Michael Warner, Herald Sun, ‘White Line Fever: AFL illicit drugs crisis’

All Media: Scoop of the Year
Nick McKenzie, Michael Bachelard and Amelia Ballinger, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes, ‘The Pezzullo files’
Chris Reason, 7NEWS, ‘The Bishop of Broome’ (pictured)
Christopher Walsh, NT Independent, ‘NT Labor’s ministerial shares scandal’

All Media: Coverage of a Major News Event or Issue
9News & Current Affairs – Bondi Attack Team, Nine, 9News, A Current Affair and Today, ‘Bondi Junction Stabbings’
Building Bad Team, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes, ‘Building Bad’
Chris Reason and Simon Hydzik, 7NEWS, ‘Israel-Hamas War’

All Media: Business Journalism
Linton Besser and Ninah Kopel, ABC, 7.30 and ABC News, ‘Netstrata’
Primrose Riordan and Sarah Thompson, The Australian Financial Review, ‘Jon Adgemis and the costs of the private credit boom’
Jonathan Shapiro and Aaron Patrick, The Australian Financial Review, ‘The ANZ bond trading scandal’

Television / Video: Camerawork
Matthew Davis, ABC, Foreign Correspondent, ‘From the high Arctic, to the hustle of Seoul‘
Scott Morelli, Nine, 60 Minutes, ‘Sending a Message‘
Cameron Schwarz, ABC, Foreign Correspondent, ‘US Immigration‘

Television / Video: News Reporting
9News and Current Affairs – Bondi Attack Team, Nine, 9News, A Current Affair and Today, ‘Bondi Junction Stabbings’
Ben Lewis, SBS World News, ‘October 7 Attacks’
Sharri Markson and Montana Duncan, Sky News, ‘Nine’s MeToo moment’

Television / Video: Current Affairs Short (Under 20 Minutes)
Adele Ferguson and Chris Gillett, ABC, 7.30, ‘Financial Housing Prison‘
Nick McKenzie, Amelia Ballinger and Michael Bachelard, Nine, 60 Minutes, ‘The Power Player‘
The Sunday Mail and Courier-Mail Prayed Upon team, The Courier-Mail and The Sunday Mail, ‘Prayed Upon’

Television / Video: Current Affairs Long (Over 20 Minutes)
Building Bad Team, Nine, 60 Minutes, ‘Building Bad‘
Adele Ferguson and Chris Gillett, ABC, Four Corners, ‘Pain Factory‘
Ben Smee, Jennifer Luu, Jodie Noyce and Chloe Angelo, SBS, The Feed and Guardian Australia, ‘In The Box: Inside the isolation cells where Australian kids are imprisoned‘

All Media: International
Dateline Team, SBS, Dateline, ‘Finding Yusuf’
Avani Dias, Naomi Selvaratnam, Madeleine Genner and Mayeta Clark, ABC, Foreign Correspondent, Four Corners and ABC Listen, ‘Reporting from Modi’s India’
Prue Lewarne, SBS News, ‘Inside Nicaragua’

All Media: Investigative Journalism
Building Bad Team, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes, ‘Building Bad’
Echo Hui, Elise Potaka and Dylan Welch, ABC, Four Corners and ABC News, ‘Ruthless Pursuit – China’s Secret Police, its Agents, and Global Campaign of Repression’
Chris Reason, 7NEWS, ‘The Bishop of Broome’

Walkley Documentary Award Finalists
Katrina McGowan, Janine Hosking, Mat Cornwell and Carrie Fellner, iKandy Films and Stan, How To Poison A Planet
Erin Moy, Gabriel Gasparinatos, Sarah Noonan and Jennifer Peedom, Entropico, Stranger Than Fiction and Netflix, OneFour: Against All Odds
Dora Weekley, Orly Danon, Chris Masters and Nick McKenzie, Stan, Revealed: Ben Roberts-Smith Truth on Trial