Advertiser and Sunday Mail scoop series of top accolades at SA Media Awards
From breaking one of the biggest political scandals in recent times, to a personal story of miraculous survival, the Advertiser and Sunday Mail won big at this year’s SA Media Awards.
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The Advertiser and Sunday Mail have scooped a series of top awards at the annual South Australian Media Awards, including further accolades for an investigation into former opposition leader David Speirs and a documentary about journalist Ben Hyde’s miraculous survival from a car crash.
Journalists were honoured for best news story and feature in text formats, along with investigative journalism and business, economics or finance report.
Chief court reporter Sean Fewster, editor Gemma Jones and Kathryn Bermingham were awarded best text news report for a story last September revealing Mr Speirs claiming a video of him appearing to snort a white powder substance was a deepfake.
Details of Mr Speirs’ arrest on drug supply charges were made public a month after The Advertiser’s report, which also won multiple honours at last November’s SA Press Club awards.
Mr Speirs, who quit as Liberal leader last August, was convicted in April on two counts of supplying cocaine. At the time, he admitted the deepfake claim was never true.
The winning television/video journalism feature was the documentary, While I
Was Sleeping, telling former Advertiser deputy editor Ben Hyde’s incredible story of survival after a crash that nearly claimed his life.
Produced by a small team of just Ben, Ruicheng Liang, Neely Karimi and Steve Grice, the powerful documentary tells how, in 2021, Ben was hit by a drugged driver travelling 170km/h and left for dead in a burning wreck.
While I Was Sleeping in May beat out finalists from across the globe to take home Best New Video Product or Feature at the prestigious International News Media Association (INMA) Awards in New York.
Alongside the documentary, The Advertiser created a strong road safety campaign in 2024 called Arrive Alive – with 41 stories over the course of three months which were viewed by more than 1.5 million people across social media platforms.
The SA Media Awards’ Business, Economic or Finance Report category was taken out by Luke Williams and Emma Brasier for their report, Millions Missing: The Cost of No Accountability in Davenport.
This revealed the Aboriginal Lands Trust’s claim that Davenport Community Council had not delivered some of its key programs and services, despite receiving $2m in ongoing federal funding since 2021.
The Investigative Journalism award went to Brad Crouch, for The Secret ICAC Tapes report, which revealed transcripts of covert recordings of conversations between former Renewal SA boss John Hanlon, fellow Renewal SA executive Georgina Vasilevski and other employees.
The secret transcripts were from an Independent Commissioner Against Corruption investigation, which ultimately resulted in dismissed charges against the duo.
Advertiser Editor Gemma Jones said the awards recognised The Advertiser and Sunday Mail’s standing as the state’s top newsroom.
“We work really hard at The Advertiser every day for our readers and we appreciate the recognition in the 2025 South Australian Media Awards,” she said.
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Originally published as Advertiser and Sunday Mail scoop series of top accolades at SA Media Awards
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